


When Gods Go To War

by DizzyDrea



Series: The Gods Who Walk Among Us [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Gods & Goddesses, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Fix-It of Sorts, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-12 14:34:05
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 37,827
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19134022
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DizzyDrea/pseuds/DizzyDrea
Summary: The battle with the Chitauri may be over, but there’s another battle looming, and this time the outcome is less certain. Steve Rogers just wants a chance to figure out this new century, and maybe go out on a date with his girl. Too bad the gods aren’t quite done with him yet.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is a sequel to [Gods & Monsters](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12705399), and it's one I never thought I'd write. I knew, based on where I left G&M, that this story would have to be a retelling of The Winter Soldier. I'd never re-written a movie before, so this was extra challenging for me. Ultimately, I really enjoyed the process and the end product. I hope you do as well. 
> 
> FYI: There's some Russian in here. It's crappy Russian, using a couple of different translators to come up with the Romanized equivalent, so forgive me if it's not exactly correct. If you hover your mouse over the word(s), you'll see a pop-up box with an approximate translation.
> 
> Written for the April Challenge at Rough Trade.
> 
> Disclaimer: The Avengers and all its particulars are the property of Marvel Studios, Walt Disney Studios, and a lot of other people who aren't me. I am doing this for fun and for practice. Mostly for fun.

~o~

Maria Hill sat alone in the dark, dingy bar down an alley in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, nursing the one drink she'd allowed herself. Whiskey neat, because it was that kind of day.

The message had been cryptic: _One more, for old times. In the shadow of the beast._

She'd come because she'd never—not once in all the years she'd been with SHIELD—not come when Nick Fury called. Even with things as unsettled as they'd been lately, she'd still come, hoping that she was wrong, and that Fury could be counted on when the time came.

She gave an inelegant snort as she raised her glass for a small sip. 

Her boss had been MIA for most of the last six months, off doing who-the-hell-knew-what. He'd left day-to-day operations to her and a handful of trusted lieutenants, Phil Coulson among them. The rift that had opened between them the day they'd confronted him about Ares had never been wider, and it disappointed her even as it wasn't any kind of surprise. 

They all had loyalties, men and ideals that they were wed to for better or worse. Maria had hoped that Fury's loyalties could be—but no. He wouldn't be Nick Fury or Hades if he changed on a whim. Not even for her.

The sigh she let out this time was full of sadness and regret that it had all come down to this.

"You didn't used to be so maudlin."

Maria looked up to find her boss settling in on the barstool next to her. The bartender slid a whiskey neat in front of him before he quietly slipped back to the other end of the bar. Fury took a sip, then another. 

"Pierce has been quiet so far, but that won't hold," she said. 

"And what would you like me to do about it?" Fury asked. "My hands are tied."

"You said once that one day, we'd all have to choose a side," Maria said. "I didn't expect us to be on opposite sides when that day came."

Fury took a sip of the whiskey. "Things are never as black and white as we like to think they are. You know that. We've always lived in the grey areas, anyway."

"Do you know what he's planning?" she asked.

"I haven't spoken to Pierce in months," he said. "If he's getting ready to make a move, he hasn't shared that with me."

"Which doesn't mean he's not," she said. "Although, I didn't expect him to freeze you out."

"He's a wily old soul," Fury said. "I wouldn't expect him to tip his hand. He hasn't lived as long as he has by exposing his plans before he's ready to execute."

"And what will you do when he finally does make his move?"

Maria held her breath. She knew she was pushing her luck, forcing Fury to choose—to declare his choice—because a cornered god was by no means less dangerous when wearing the Cloak. But she had to know; they had to know who they could depend on when it came time to confront Ares.

"Maybe it's time for others to take up the cause," he said quietly. "This is a young man's game, after all."

"It's not like you to run from a fight," she said. "That's not the Nick Fury I know."

"Nick Fury was always a Legend," Fury said. "Just a collection of details, not even a real person. Maybe it's time for the legend to disappear."

"So that's it then?" she asked, then sighed. "It didn't have to be this way. You know we'd have backed you. All the way."

Fury tossed back the rest of his drink, stood and dropped a few bills on the bar. When he turned to face her, she could see the sadness in his eye.

"It was always going to be this way, and you know it," Fury said. "We all have our parts to play in this. Zeus knew that when he sent us here."

"He sent us all here, Nick," she said, turning to face him. "We all came with one purpose, and now you're just going to walk away."

"I'm going to do the only thing I can do," Fury said. "I'm going to give you a fighting chance. Do what you can for SHIELD, but don't let that get in the way of doing what you must to stop Ares. I trust you. Now it's time for you to trust yourself."

With those last words, Nick Fury turned and left the bar, his leather duster swirling behind him like a cape. 

Maria sat still at the bar for a few long moments, her heart heavy at the knowledge that Fury was choosing to walk away from the fight rather than take a stand against his sister's son. It was disappointing, but not surprising. And maybe he was right after all; maybe it was time for younger men and women to step up and fight.

She picked up her glass and swallowed the last of the whiskey. Turning the glass upside down, she set it on the bar, turned and walked out, head held high.

~o~


	2. Chapter 2

~o~

Steve Rogers stood at the counter of the Starbucks, staring at the menu above him. It honestly confounded him how complicated even coffee had become in the modern world.

"I just want a black coffee, please," he said to the young woman behind the counter.

She just stared at him, her round eyes blinking as if no one had ever ordered a plain black coffee in her life. He sighed. Just once, he'd like things to be simple. He opened his mouth to clarify when the man behind him stepped up beside him.

"He'll have a Grande Americano, and I'll have the same."

The young woman visibly brightened at the words. "Room for cream?"

Steve's benefactor turned to him, an assessing look on his face. "You don't look like a cream-in-my-coffee kind of guy, so I'm gonna go with no." He turned back to the cashier. "But make mine with room, please. For Sam."

"Sure," she said. She tapped at the screen in front of her a few times. "That'll be $10.53, please."

Steve shook his head. "Ten bucks for a cup of coffee?"

"You'll like it, I promise," the man said. He handed over cash and took his change.

The two men moved to a spot near the wall to wait for their beverages. Steve looked at the man beside him. He was shorter than Steve, with dark skin and close-cropped hair. He was dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, much like Steve himself was, but he carried himself with a familiar bearing. Ex-military, if Steve had to guess.

"I'm Steve—"

"Rogers," the other man said. "I know. Kinda hard to miss, what with your face all over the news after New York. I'm Sam Wilson, ex-Air Force Pararescue Jumper."

"It's nice to meet you, Sam," Steve said, sticking out his hand for the other man to shake. "Pararescue?"

"Yeah, Air Force Special Forces," Sam said, shaking Steve's hand. "Mostly we were tasked with going in after downed pilots. You were Army, right?"

"Yes, although the Howling Commandos had people from a couple different branches and militaries," Steve said. "We were a motley bunch, but we got the job done."

"And how are you finding civilian life in New York circa 2013?" Sam asked.

"Eh, it's not the city I remember, but it's still home, for better or worse," Steve said. "You live around here?"

"Nah," Sam said. "I'm actually up here visiting a friend. I live in DC, work with a veterans support group at the VA."

"I've heard of that," Steve said. "They take care of the veterans when they come home sick or injured. I was actually glad to hear that someone had taken that on. We didn't have anything, back then, especially for the guys with Shell Shock."

"They call it PTSD now," Sam said. "Post-traumatic Stress Disorder. And there's a lot of guys that come home with it, so it's more important now than ever."

"Sam?" a voice behind the counter called out.

"That'll be our coffee," Same said. He elbowed his way to the counter and picked up two cups, handing one off to Steve. "Give that a try, see what you think."

Steve took a sip. Strong coffee burst over his tongue, scalding hot but full of flavor. "That's actually really good. You called it an Americano?"

"Yeah," Sam said. He stepped over to the drink prep station and poured a bit of cream into his drink before securing the lid.

They headed for the door by mutual unspoken agreement. Once outside, Steve turned and said, "Thanks for the coffee. And the assist. I honestly didn't realize how complicated coffee had gotten. JARVIS usually has a pot on, and it's good, but it's just plain coffee."

"Jarvis, huh?" Sam said with a smile. "Is he your butler?"

"Nah," Steve said, shaking his head with a grin. "He's—I guess you could say he runs my friend's household. The friend I'm staying with."

"That friend wouldn't happen to be Tony Stark, would it?"

"How'd you guess?"

"Iron Man's pretty hard to miss," Sam said. "Plus, you guys were all over the TV after the battle. Must be nice to have a friend like him."

Steve shrugged. "Stark has money and power, and uses them both with ease. I grew up poor, so that kind of money is—it's like being in a foreign country, honestly."

"I hear ya, man," Sam said. "Still, it's good to have friends. I mean, he gave you a place to stay and all."

"He did," Steve said. "He made sure I understood that I didn't have to stay a soldier, because if he hadn't been there, I might have just… thrown myself back into it, just for something to do."

"It was that bad?" Sam asked.

"Not bad," Steve said, waffling his hand a bit. "But I was… angry, when I woke up and realized what had happened. Stark made sure no one took advantage of that."

"Glad to hear it," Sam said. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a card. "Listen, I'm gonna be in town for a little while, yet. If you ever want to talk, just give me a call. My cell number's on there." Sam paused. "You do know about cell phones, right?"

Steve chuckled. "Yes, I know about cell phones." He pulled the StarkPhone from his pocket and waggled it. "Being friends with the designer helped."

As if pulling it out reminded it to ring, the phone burst to life. Steve checked the screen, finding it was JARVIS. 

"You need to take that?" Sam asked.

"Hang on a sec?" Steve asked in reply. When Sam nodded, Steve hit the button to answer the call. "JARVIS, what's going on?"

"Sir asked me to call you and find out when you plan to return to the Tower," JARVIS said. "He has some items he'd like to discuss with you."

"Is it urgent?" Steve asked. Sam frowned with concern.

"Not urgent, per se," JARVIS said. "But he did ask that you come to his lab when you return."

"Okay, tell him I'll be there in twenty," Steve said.

"Very good, Captain," JARVIS said. The call disconnected a moment later.

"Everything okay?" Sam asked.

"Yeah, everything's good," Steve said. "Stark asked me to come to his lab. I figure he's got something to show me, so I should probably go."

"Alright," Sam said. "It was nice to meet you, Steve Rogers. And I mean it; give me a call if you need to."

"Never not playing counselor, huh?" Steve asked as he reached out and shook Sam's hand.

"Hazards of the job," Sam said, shrugging. "Plus, I kinda like you, so I don't mind if you even just want to get a pizza."

"Now that's an idea I can get behind," Steve said. "I'll give you a call. There's this place in Brooklyn, near where I grew up. It's still there, still run by the same family, and the pizza is first-rate."

"Sounds like a plan," Sam said. He waved as he turned and headed down the street.

Steve just smiled as he looked down at the business card in his hand. It looked like he'd found a friend in addition to a new favorite coffee drink.

~o~

"What's going on, Stark?" Steve asked as he walked into Tony's lab. 

He saw the man in question standing in front of one of his holographic displays, arms crossed appearing deep in thought. There wasn't even any of that noise he called music playing in the background, something that set Steve's instincts to rattling. Stark rarely worked in utter silence.

"Take a look," Tony said, waving at the documents hovering in the air like ghostly after-images. "Tell me what you see."

Steve stepped in front of him and scanned through the documents. After his first pass, he went back and read through them more carefully. There was something familiar about them, and it bothered him that he knew just what it was.

"This looks like the dossier Fury gave me on the rest of the Avengers," Steve said, glancing at Tony over his shoulder. "Except some of this is obviously edited from the version I got. Mostly the intel on you. Did you know?"

Tony stepped up beside him. "I knew enough to not believe a word of my own version of the dossier. Fury's a lying liar who lies; his nose grows whenever he tells the truth."

"Where did you get all this?" 

"You're not going to like it," Tony said. 

"Is it illegal?" Steve asked, one eyebrow raised. Tony wobbled his hand in the air. "Then I'm sure I'm going to hate it. Go ahead."

"I hacked SHIELD," Tony said. "Basically, I turned JARVIS loose on their server farm and harvested all the data I could find. There are still some areas I haven't been able to get access to."

"Jesus, Tony," Steve said, shaking his head. He still didn't quite understand modern technology, but he knew enough to understand that what Tony had done was tantamount to robbery.

"I'm still weighing my options on those areas I haven't been able to breach," Tony said, as if they were just discussing the weather. "I considered a brute-force attack, but that would probably trip every alarm in their systems, and since stealth is kind of a must on this whole exercise, I threw that option out."

"Are you going to get in trouble for this?" Steve asked.

"Depends on if they figure out who did it," Tony said. "I don't plan on getting caught, so no, I'm not going to get in trouble."

"Are you sure this is the only way?" Steve asked.

They'd discussed this at length, not long after the confrontation with Fury. Steve had been surprised that even Agent Coulson agreed that they needed to know everything SHIELD knew. Without Fury's cooperation, Tony essentially invading SHIELD and stealing all their knowledge was the only option available to them. The fact that Fury seemed to be simply looking the other way was convenient, but that was no guarantee that someone else wouldn't notice.

Someone like Alexander Pierce.

"If we want to know what Fury knows, yes it's the only way," Tony said.

"So, let me ask you something," Steve said. "Why create different briefing packets for each of us? Did Fury not trust that we'd go along if we knew the truth about each other? Because I have to tell you, I'd rather know the truth—warts and all—about the people I go into battle with. I need to be able to trust the people I'm fighting alongside, and I can't do that if I've been fed a bunch of lies."

"Yeah, I got nothing," Tony said. He crossed the room and settled onto a stool near one of the workbenches. He picked up the cup of coffee on the bench and took a sip, grimacing at the taste as he set it back down. "If he wanted us to want to work together, lying to us—pointing out the worst qualities in the other people—doesn't make for a great working relationship. Of course, the Mind Stone in the scepter didn't help matters, but it seems like Fury wanted us to hate each other on sight."

"So, he feeds us a bunch of lies and half-truths, hoping that we'd never figure it out?" Steve asked.

"And then he lays the mother of all lies on us mid-battle," Tony said. "Telling us Coulson was dead when he wasn't even on the 'carrier anymore. He claimed he didn't know, but I'm not sure I buy it."

"It galvanized us as a team, though," Steve pointed out. "Despite the lies—or maybe because of them—we reevaluated each other. It pulled us together—gave us a common enemy. Not just the Chitauri, but SHIELD as well."

Tony got up and crossed the room again, waving his hands through the documents, sorting through them as if he was looking for something. "What if that was the point all along?"

"I don't follow," Steve said.

"What if Fury was hoping to make us see SHIELD as the enemy?" Tony said. He dragged a document to the middle of the pile and expanded it with a wave of his hands. "See this? It's his recommendation for the Avengers Initiative."

Steve scanned the document. "It says here he recommended scrapping the whole idea. And yet he presented it to us as something he wanted to happen."

"He had to tempt us with the idea that we could be a team," Tony said. He crossed his arms, one hand rubbing at his chin. "And then lie to us, push us to see SHIELD as the enemy. After the battle, we gave SHIELD the proverbial middle finger and set up shop in the Tower. What if that was Fury's plan all along?"

"You mean get us out from under SHIELD," Steve said. "Away from Pierce and the WSC. And in a position where we have insight into SHIELD, but are not beholden to them."

"Exactly," Tony said.

Steve whistled. "That's a lot of what if's and maybe's. How could he be sure it would work?"

"Some of us are—I hate to say—entirely predictable," Tony said. "Fury knew how I'd react. He knew how you'd react. He played us like Mario Cart, and it worked."

"Hmmmm," Steve said. He didn't want to admit it, but Tony was probably right. About all of it, but especially about how he'd react to the whole situation. "Have you learned anything about Pierce's plans?"

"JARVIS isn't remotely finished extracting and analyzing the data," Tony said. "Probably another few days and we'll have a clearer picture."

"Any thoughts?" Steve said.

"I cancelled Project Insight this morning," Tony said. When Steve raised an eyebrow, he went on. "You know that helicarrier that almost killed us during the battle? Stark Industries was going to build SHIELD three more just like it."

"Why did you cancel the project?"

"Frankly, I don't trust Pierce," Tony said. "I don't trust Fury either, but if what we suspect is true, I'd trust him marginally more. But he's not minding the store right now, and knowing that Pierce is Ares makes me jumpier than after I drink an entire pot of coffee."

"Fair enough," Steve said. "Keep me posted?"

"As soon as I know something, you'll know something," Tony said.

~o~


	3. Chapter 3

~o~

Steve skirted the edge of the mat in Tony's ridiculous gym, his eyes never leaving Natasha Romanov as she mirrored his every move. 

Steve still hadn't figured out what ninety percent of the equipment in the gym could do, but the sparring mats were fantastic, and since sparring was something he couldn't always do—what with the risk of hurting most of the people he'd trained with—he took advantage when he could.

"Are you just going to dance around all day?" Steve asked.

Natasha snorted. "You weren't so impatient last week when I wiped the mat with you."

"Maybe I've learned a thing or two since then," Steve said, raising one eyebrow.

"Coulson wouldn't have told you anything, which means you talked to Clint," Natasha said. "I'd be careful believing anything he's told you. I've been kicking his ass regularly since I arrived at SHIELD."

"That's what he said," Steve told her, flashing a smile. "He did give me a couple of tips, though. I'm looking forward to seeing what works."

"We'll see," Natasha said.

She paused for the briefest second, then rushed at him, swinging at him with a right cross that he could see coming from a mile away. He dodged the punch, his upper body swaying to the side as her fist brushed past him. And then, in a move he was sure he'd be reliving in his nightmares, she abruptly swung back, using the back of her fist to come under his arm and jab him in the side. Two more quick blows to his solar plexus later and he was backpedaling off the mats, bent over double trying to catch his breath.

Natasha backed away, smiling at him as he gasped for air. "What was that you were saying?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Steve said, waving his hand at her. He straightened up, watching as she stretched on the other side of the mat. "You willing to show me how to do that move?"

"A lot of what makes that move work is being underestimated," Natasha said. "I'm not sure anyone's going to underestimate you."

"You'd be surprised, actually," Steve said. He grabbed the water bottle he'd left at the side of the mats and took a drink. "I'm bigger than most people I fight, so they assume that I'm not very fast or flexible. One of the things I managed to keep from before Rebirth is my agility."

"That agility never helped you keep from getting your ass kicked before Rebirth," Natasha pointed out. She stood up and waited for him to join her on the mat.

Steve stepped back onto the mat across from her. "Being agile doesn't do much good when you have an asthma attack in the middle of a fight."

"Or when your opponent is twice your size and can crush you with his bare hands."

"There is that," Steve said with a smile.

"You ready to go again?" Natasha asked.

"Bring it on," Steve said.

She came at him again, only this time he was ready for her. She tried the same move again, but when he dodged her fist, instead of letting it whistle past him so she'd have the opportunity to jab him in the side, he wrapped his hand around her wrist and used it to spin her, pinning her arms behind her back and holding her tight to his body.

Natasha relaxed almost instantly, leaning into him and looking up over her shoulder. "Nice move. Where'd you learn that?"

Steve let her go, watching as she shook out her hands and stretched her neck. "Bucky was fond of trying to come up under my guard. He was usually only successful about fifty percent of the time."

"You tricked me," Natasha said, laughing.

"Overconfidence," Steve said, shrugging. "We're all guilty from time to time. I just learned how to take advantage of it."

Shaking her head with a smile, she held up her fist. "Well played, Rogers."

Steve smiled and tapped his own fist to hers. "That trick only works once. Next time we spar, I won't be able to get away with it."

They went a few more rounds, each of them taking the upper hand. Sparring together was more about sharpening skills, so there was much more give and take after their initial clashes. Steve found Natasha to be a challenging opponent, which wasn't surprising, but enjoyable just the same. Being a god in human form, she was stronger and faster than a human, which meant she could keep up with him better than most of the rest of the Avengers.

By the time they were winding down, they were both sweaty and breathless, but Steve had rarely felt this good since waking up in a new decade.

"Can I ask you something?" 

"Sure," Natasha said. "I can't promise you I have an answer."

"Do you know what Tony's doing?" Steve asked.

"You mean, hacking SHIELD?" she asked. When Steve nodded, she went on. "Yes, I know."

"And you're okay with that?"

Natasha shrugged. "Fury's keeping secrets. Secrets get people killed. And since it's our lives on the line, I'm fine with whatever Stark has to do to keep us all safe."

"And that includes breaking the law?" Steve asked.

"We have a responsibility," Natasha said. "A higher purpose. Breaking the humans' laws is a small price to pay in the grand scheme of things. The question is, are you okay with it? Because it sounds like you're having second thoughts."

"During the war, there were times when the ends justified the means," Steve said. "I didn't like it then, mostly because I believe that if we let ourselves violate the law in the name of the greater good, we'll justify a lot worse with the same logic. That makes us no better than the enemy, honestly."

"Too bad Pierce doesn't subscribe to the same philosophy."

Steve and Natasha turned around to find Maria in the doorway, leaning against the doorjamb with her arms crossed. She looked good, dressed casually in jeans and a blue blouse, but Steve thought she'd look good in a gunny sack, so he wasn't really a good judge of such things.

"Hey," Steve said, smiling. "When did you get in?"

"Earlier today," she said. "I had an appointment."

"You okay?" Natasha asked.

Maria shrugged. "I've had better days." 

Steve crossed the room, draping his towel around his neck as he did. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Maria's eyes flicked to Natasha, then back to Steve. Natasha seemed to take that as some sort of signal. She grabbed her towel and water bottle and waved at them as she left the room.

Steve frowned. "Are you sure you're okay?"

Maria reached out and grabbed the end of his towel, tugging playfully on it. "I'll be fine. I just—it'll take some time. Take me to dinner?"

"Yeah," Steve said. "I can do that. Wanna come keep me company while I shower and change?"

"Captain Rogers," Maria said, faking a scandalized tone. "What would your fans think?"

"That I'm the smartest guy on the planet for not letting you get away," Steve murmured as he took the hand wrapped around his towel and pressed a kiss to her palm. 

When he pulled back, he caught the soft blush blooming on Maria's cheeks. He smiled, feeling unreasonably proud for evoking such a reaction in this woman.

"Come on, you can tell me all about current events in DC while I shower," he said.

" _That_ is a buzz-kill if ever I've heard one," she said, but she was smiling when she did it, so he considered it a win.

~o~

Maria sat back in the chair behind the desk in Fury's office in New York, arms crossed as she looked around the room. After he'd disappeared the first time—after their confrontation at Stark Tower—she'd shamelessly gone through his office in DC, not sure exactly what she'd been looking for, but knowing, somehow, she'd recognize it when she saw it.

What most people didn't know about the director of SHIELD was that Nick Fury kept an office in the New York headquarters building. Oh, they knew about the flashy 15th floor office with the view of the Brooklyn Bridge—the one she'd searched just that morning—but not the one in a dark, little used corner of the basement. 

It was more of a bolt-hole than an office, hidden behind a secondary weapons storage room—more of a closet than an armory. There was a keypad concealed in the back wall of the closet, and once she'd figured out the code, the door slid open to reveal a twelve-foot square room with a metal desk, ratty chair and state-of-the-art computer. It was such a contrast that Maria had honestly stared at if for a full five minutes trying to make sense of it.

Then, she'd sat down in the creaky chair and fired up the computer. It hadn't taken her long to realize that there wasn't anything of value—or at least, of value to her—on the computer. It was basically a clone of the one upstairs, which was a clone of the one in his office in DC. She wondered idly why he kept it in this office if he had one upstairs that was identical. Anything he could do on this computer, he could do on either of the other two.

She leaned forward, her eyes scanning the walls. 

There were a couple of truly hideous paintings on the adjacent walls, and a large map complete with pins and post-it notes—of all things—on the wall next to the door. There was nothing too outwardly odd about any of it, but she got up to investigate just the same.

She checked behind both the paintings, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. They were cheap knock-offs, but she couldn't see Fury springing for originals of anything for a basement office that most people didn't even know existed. Ditto for the map. It was attached to a cork board, but there was nothing behind it, and no apparent pattern to the pins and notes—nothing beyond the usual notes about hot spots and sightings of suspects they'd been tracking for what seemed like years in some cases.

She turned around and looked at the wall behind the desk. In both of his other offices, he had a safe behind some sort of wall hanging, but there was nothing hanging on the wall behind this desk. She stepped behind the desk and ran her hands over the wall, looking for a seam of some sort, something like the concealed door to this room, but there was nothing.

Leaning back on the desk, Maria huffed in frustration. The message to meet Fury had come out of the blue, but she knew that he'd brought her to New York for a reason. He'd left something for her, she just had to find it.

"What are you hiding, Nick?" she muttered. "And more importantly, where are you hiding it?"

She'd searched the desk when she'd come up empty on the computer; the only thing she'd found was a small screw in the center drawer. Not a surprise, considering the age of the desk. It was probably something left over from the previous owner, whoever that had been.

She glanced at the computer as a thought struck her. Maybe he'd been a bit more creative with how he'd hidden whatever it was. She knew he'd done it; he was Nick Fury. He had more secrets than anyone she knew, and he rarely ever showed his full hand to anyone.

Pushing up off the desk, she turned around and gave the computer a closer look. A large monitor took up most of the space on the desk's surface, along with a wireless keyboard and mouse. All three were ordinary, off-the-rack solutions that SHIELD bought in bulk. The computer itself was a small tower, no more than six inches tall and a couple of inches wide. It had a couple of data ports in front, to make it easier to plug in an external drive.

Maria pushed the keyboard and mouse aside and dragged the mini-tower to her. She unplugged the power and monitor cables and turned it over, looking at it from all angles. One side had four small screw holes in it, and upon further inspection, she realized that one was missing. She pulled the center drawer open and picked up the small screw. It was an exact match for the hole she was staring at.

She set aside the screw and pulled a small multi-tool from the cargo pocked in her uniform pants. Selecting the smallest screwdriver, she carefully removed the three remaining screws and set them with the one she'd found. She pried the cover off the machine and just stared.

Inside the tower, Fury had concealed a small data card. It was black, so it blended in well with the black housing of the computer. It wasn't labeled at all, but she wasn't honestly surprised. If anyone else had found it by some chance, it would be stupid to advertise what was on the card.

She pried it up from where it was tucked behind some wires, replaced the cover and secured it with all four screws. She replaced the monitor and power cords and set the tower back where she'd found it, moving the keyboard and mouse back into place as well. Picking up the data card, she turned it over in her fingers. She had no idea what was on it, but she had a feeling it was important.

Standing up, she tucked the multi-tool and data card into her pocket and slipped out of the office, making sure no one saw her as she exited the weapons locker. The cameras on this level monitored the main hallways, but there weren't any pointed at this particular corridor. Since the only room down this short corridor was the weapons storage room, there wasn't really a need. Probably why Fury had picked that room in the first place. Thankfully, that meant no one would ask questions when it appeared she'd visited the same area.

Maria headed back upstairs to her office, just down the hall from Fury's on the 15th floor. She had a few more things she needed to take care of before she could head out for the day. She could have just left, but she thought that would look suspicious, even with the cover that the weapons locker provided, so she planned to clear her desk before leaving for the day.

Her fingers were itching to get into whatever data was on that card, but she wasn't stupid enough to do it anywhere that wasn't secure. Stark's lab in the Tower was just about the most secure place on the planet, thanks to JARVIS, and while she wasn't exactly excited to share whatever was on that data card, Maria also recognized that she'd need help if Fury had encrypted it at all.

~o~

Maria was standing at the console in the Avengers' command center, sorting through the data from the card she'd found in Fury's hidden office. 

With each page she flipped through, she became more and more convinced that something was going on at SHIELD—something so under the radar that it might as well be buried at the bottom of a mine. She didn't like the picture that was forming in her mind, but at least she didn't feel like she was crazy for seeing it. Fury had collected all the data, after all; he must have seen something that made him suspicious.

"Now that looks interesting."

Maria glanced over her shoulder to find Tony Stark standing in the doorway, arms crossed as he watched the data stream by.

"Interesting, how?" she asked.

Stark crossed the room and stood beside her, leaning in for a closer look. "There's a bunch of bases in here that aren't in the main SHIELD database."

"I know," she said. "I don't recognize them either, but they're clearly labeled as SHIELD facilities."

"JARVIS, scan the SHIELD database we've harvested so far," Stark said. "Look for the funding trail for these bases."

"Yes, sir," JARVIS said. The large screens on the far wall lit up, database entries from SHIELD Finance flashed by, almost too fast to recognize. "I can find no entries coinciding with either the construction of these facilities, nor for ongoing maintenance."

"Now that's suspicious," Stark said. "Who would have the authority to keep something as large as the construction and maintenance of an entire base off the books?"

"The sitting Director," Maria said. "Which at the moment—at least in name—is Fury."

"And Pierce was Director before Fury, correct?" Stark asked, though Maria got the sense that he already knew the answer.

"Yes." She thought about it for a moment. "Although, keeping something like this secret isn't exactly easy. I mean, there are people assigned to these bases. People come and go, based on assignments or promotions."

"Or retirements," Stark said.

"Less of that than you'd expect," Maria said. At Stark's raised eyebrow, she huffed. "We're a federal agency tasked with policing scientific espionage. Spies die at a rate considerably faster than the population at large. SHIELD was founded after World War II. After seventy years, we have no more than a thousand retirees currently earning a pension from the agency."

"One thousand fifty-three to be exact," JARVIS said.

"Okay, a thousand fifty-three," Maria said. "The point is, most other federal agencies have retirees in the hundreds of thousands because the vast majority of their employees actually make it to retirement age."

"JARVIS, can you analyze the other federal law enforcement agencies for mortality rates?" Stark asked.

"Indeed, sir," JARVIS said.

"What?" Maria asked, curious as to where his mind had gone with that information.

He waved her off. "Just wondering if SHIELD's employees are dying at a faster rate than their counterparts at other agencies."

"And what would that tell you if the answer is yes?" she asked.

"That you guys aren't particularly careful," Stark said. "Beyond that…"

Maria raised an eyebrow. It wasn't like Stark to be reluctant to speak his mind. It set her alarm bells to ringing. "What aren't you telling me?"

"Sir," JARVIS interrupted before Stark could say anything.

"What have you got, J?"

"I have found something of interest," the AI said. The large screen in front of them cleared, and lines of code started appearing, filling the screen.

"What is it?" Maria asked.

"It's an encryption key," Stark said.

"For what?" Maria asked. "The main SHIELD database?"

"I'm not sure," Stark said. 

He tapped an icon on the glass surface of the console, bringing up a keyboard. His fingers flew over the virtual keys, more lines of code filling the screen. Then the view shifted to the SHIELD database as page after page loaded on the screen.

"Well, fuck me," Stark said.

"Sorry, not my type," Maria quipped. "What exactly are we looking at?"

"So, there were areas of the SHIELD database that I was having trouble accessing," Stark said.

"You?" Maria asked sarcastically.

"Yeah, yeah," Stark said, smirking at her. "Anyway, I'd considered a brute-force attack, but I didn't really want to give Pierce anything he could use against me."

"Smart. So?"

"So, that left me with setting a—well, for lack of a better term, a hack-bot loose on the SHIELD mainframe."

_Hack-bot_ , Maria mouthed.

"No judging," Stark said, pointing a finger at her. Maria raised her hands in mock surrender. "Anyway, that was going to take time. Lots of time, because it has to be stealthy. Time I'm not sure we have. JARVIS and I were considering our options when you came back to the Tower."

"What does any of that have to do with this?" Maria asked.

"This," Stark said, highlighting the code JARVIS had found on the memory card Maria discovered in Fury's office. "Is the encryption key for those dark areas in the SHIELD database."

"Fuck me," Maria said, staring at the code.

"Not my type," Stark shot back, smirking. "Also, Pepper doesn't share."

Maria was tempted to flip him off, but settled for a smirk instead. "So, does that mean you'll be able to access the parts of the SHIELD database you couldn't before? It won't set off any alarms, will it?"

"I'll have JARVIS go through the code thoroughly before we try to use it," Stark said. "Where'd you get this, anyway? Seduce Pierce with your wiles?"

Stark was waggling his eyebrows like a demented gnome. "Ew." Maria shuddered. "I searched Fury's offices."

"Riffled through his office supplies, huh?" Stark said. "I never figured you for the type. That's not exactly something a loyal employee would do. Or so I've heard. Me, I'm not ashamed to admit that I've tiptoed through the occasional load of dirty laundry, so to speak."

"Why am I not surprised," Maria said, rolling her eyes. She sighed. "I think Fury left this for me to find. He certainly left enough clues behind for me to find it."

"I'd have to agree," Stark said. "Fury's secrets have secrets. If he hadn't wanted you to know, he'd have buried all this so deep you'd need a whole team of archeologists to find it."

"So, what now?" Maria asked.

"Now, JARVIS and I go on a little field-trip through the entire SHIELD database, see what we can find," Stark said. 

"How long until you know something?"

"Depending on how much data there is to go through, and how deeply it's buried, days, maybe." He paused. "Hours, if we find what we're looking for fairly easily."

"What do you think you're going to find?" she asked. Stark's mind didn't work like normal people's, so she was curious to know what kind of picture was emerging for him.

"Nothing good," Stark said, eyebrows lowered, frown firmly in place. "Pierce has been in place with SHIELD and the WSC for years. He could have done untold amounts of damage in that time. That agency you're so fond of may just burn to the ground once we expose what's really going on."

"Fuck," Maria said. 

"My sentiments exactly," Stark said. "SHIELD is holding on to a lot of secrets. Secrets that should stay secret. What happens to all of that if SHIELD collapses? We're going to have to tread very carefully on this."

Maria snorted. "Careful isn't something you have a lot of experience with, Stark."

"Maybe not, but there's a time and place for shock and awe," he said. "I'm gonna say this isn't it."

"Okay," Maria said. She was only mildly surprised by Stark's attitude. After all, he could have retired the Iron Man suit as soon as he'd dealt with the terrorists who'd kidnapped him. Instead, he'd learned how to be—for lack of a better term—a superhero, including knowing when to come out and fight and when to stay in the background, waiting and watching. "Just keep me in the loop. If Pierce gets wind of what you're doing, it'll get ugly fast. He was never known for his moderation."

"Noted," Stark said. "JARVIS, add the contents of Fury's drive to the SHIELD database and start cross-referencing."

"As you wish, sir," JARVIS said.

~o~


	4. Chapter 4

~o~

"How are things at SHIELD?" Steve asked Maria.

They were staying in, ostensibly to watch a movie and further Steve's education on the 20th century, but it was like he was reading her mind, because as soon as she'd walked in, he'd sensed her mood and shelved those plans. So, instead of a movie, JARVIS had put on some music and Steve had made coffee.

"Things are… unsettled," she said, sighing. "Fury being MIA isn't helping things, but there's something else going on. It's like the whole place is on tenterhooks, waiting for… something."

"Like what?" Steve asked.

"I have no idea," Maria said. "Phil's in the dark, too. And of all of us, he's always been the closest to Fury."

"I get the feeling his relationship with Fury was damaged by his kidnapping," Steve said. "He might not have been responsible, but it was still his duty to guard the dead. He failed, and now Coulson has been altered without his permission."

"Fury isn't responsible for his sister's bad acts," Maria said. "But the fact that he didn't even know it had happened until after the fact has made us all question just what Fury's been up to. I mean, we're all human in this form, but we still retain our connection to Olympus. We can't not be who and what we are, but it almost seems like Fury's forgotten who he really is."

"Like he's embraced being human, you mean," Steve said. "I can see that. He recused himself from engaging Pierce, and I don't think it's all because Ares is his sister's son."

"He's caught between two worlds," Maria said quietly. "And his loyalties are tearing him apart."

"And you?" Steve asked. "Where do your loyalties lie?"

Maria looked at him. "With the others. With Olympus. With you. This human form is transitory. There will come a day when I will leave this world and return to my only home."

"And where does that leave us?" Steve asked. 

She could see the hesitation in him. They'd become close over the last eight months, since his return from Olympus. He still floundered from time to time, even after a year in the 20th century, though not as much as he had in the beginning. But he was highly adaptable, willing to roll with the punches no matter what came at him. It was, perhaps, the thing she admired most about him. Still, she knew that the hardest thing he'd ever face in this life was having to let people go. Because he would outlive everyone he knew, and it would be like going into the ice again, coming out the other side in a world with holes in the shape of those he knew and loved.

Still, she could reassure him, in this at least.

"You are of Olympus, Steve," she said. "From what Clint said, she embraced you when you visited last year. If you wish it, when your life is over on this world, you could join me in Olympus. She would allow it, if I asked."

"I'm not sure I want to spend eternity with those people," Steve said, chuckling. "But spending eternity with you has its appeal. Are you sure?"

"It's a rare thing for me to say that I desire someone's company," she said. She'd walked alone for millennia, so she'd even surprised herself when she'd realized that having Steve by her side was something she wanted. "My people—the Athenians—always believed me a virgin because I walked alone. It's truer to say that I chose to walk alone because there was never anyone—man or woman—who could be my equal."

"I might be a demi-god, but I'm not your equal," Steve said. "Though I'm sure I'm closer to that while you wear the Cloak."

"You're my equal in the ways that matter," Maria said. She reached out and took his hand. "You're brave and loyal, wise and compassionate, gentle and kind." She paused, tilting her head. "Did you know that I'm considered the patron of heroes?"

"I seem to remember that from my classical literature course in school," Steve said. "The story goes that you aided Perseus in his quest to kill the Medusa."

"Hermes and I, but yes," Maria said. "I gifted him with a shield, and Hermes gave him the knife he used to cut her head off."

"A shield, huh?" Steve said, somewhat bemused. "Did you help Howard create my shield, too?"

Maria raised an eyebrow. "And if I did?"

"I hate to interrupt what looks like an interesting conversation, but I'm about to start a more interesting conversation in the command center, if you'd be interested in joining."

"Stark," Maria said, groaning. "Don't you know how to knock?"

Tony grinned. "It's my house. Besides, I'm not sure our virginal hero there could take much more teasing from you."

"His head would probably explode if he heard about some of the things I got up to on the USO tour," Steve said to Maria.

"Sounds like fun," she said. "Promise I can watch and I'll bring the popcorn."

"You two only think you're funny," Tony said. "Ten minutes."

The screen went blank. Steve sighed. "We should probably go see what he's got. If we don't, he's likely to bring the whole thing down here and camp out in my living room."

"Right," Maria said. 

She started to get up, but Steve held on to her hand. He pulled her to him and pressed a sweet kiss to her lips.

"If you ask nicely, I'll tell you some of the stories later," he whispered into her lips.

"It's a date," she said as she pulled back.

~o~

"Alright, Stark, let's see what you've got."

Agent Coulson settled in the middle of the command center, hands in his pockets, looking every inch the non-threatening human he no longer was. Natasha stood to one side, leaning against one of the secondary consoles, Clint Barton at her elbow, sitting on the console despite the frown Tony had thrown his way, legs swinging like he didn't have a care in the world. Still, Steve hadn't missed how both of them placed themselves close enough to guard Coulson from threats, but still giving him space. Banner stood to one side, separate from the rest but still part of the group. Pepper had settled on a stool just behind Coulson, one high heel dangling from her foot as she waited for the briefing to start.

Steve had taken up a spot near the back of the room, the better to observe the rest as Tony talked about what he'd found. Maria, by some unspoken agreement, had simply stepped into the room and stopped at his side. He couldn't have stopped the burst of pride in his chest if he'd wanted to, for the simple fact that he felt less alone.

"So, you want the good news, the bad news or the worse news first?"

"How about let's start with the good news and go from there?" Coulson said.

"You're an optimist," Tony said, pointing at the other man. "I like it, even though I don't understand it. Me, I assume the worst. I'm rarely disappointed that way."

"Tony," Pepper muttered.

"Right, the good news," Tony said, clapping his hands. He laced his fingers together and pushed them out, stretching and cracking the digits. He wiggled his fingers, then typed a few commands into the central console. "So, the good news, such as it is, is that I now have full access to the SHIELD database, thanks to an anonymous source."

"Can this source of yours be trusted?" Coulson asked.

Tony glanced over his shoulder at Maria, who barely nodded. Tony shrugged. "Insofar as I believe this source doesn't want to kill or maim us, yes, I trust them."

"Alright," Coulson said. "What have you found?"

"This is where we get into the bad news portion of today's presentation," Tony said. "JARVIS, if you would, please?"

"Certainly, sir," JARVIS said. Every screen in the room sprang to life, all showing presentations and lists and reports; the entire history of SHIELD, digitized and cataloged. Steve was honestly shocked at the sheer amount of data Tony had harvested.

"What are we looking at, Stark?" Clint asked.

"Every bad idea SHIELD has ever had," Tony said, sweeping his hand to encompass the data on the screens. "Some of this was officially sanctioned; some of it appears to have been funded through black holes in the budget."

Banner wandered over to a set of screens, arms crossed as he looked over the documents JARVIS had pulled up. "They're doing human experimentation. At least three different programs by the looks of it, including more work on the Super Soldier serum."

"To be honest, that's not even the worst of it," Tony said. "I've got evidence of SHIELD seizing technology and instead of destroying it—as mandated by SHIELD regulations—they'd take it to one of their off-the-books bases for further development."

"Off-the-books bases?" Coulson asked. "How many are we talking about here?"

"JARVIS?" The screens cleared and more documents appeared. "There are twenty-three bases on this list. None of them are in the main SHIELD database."

Clint whistled. "How the fuck does something like this happen?"

"If I had to guess, I'd say someone in accounting is getting creative with the books," Tony said. "Fortunately, I don't have to guess, because I know. JARVIS, one more time."

The screens cleared again, and a list began forming on the main screen in the room. Name after name was added to the list, with a photograph—a badge photo—appearing with each name.

"Who are these people?" Steve asked.

"SHIELD employees," Maria said, speaking for the first time. "Corwin. Harter. Garrett. They're all agents. Some of them have been with SHIELD longer than I have."

"Sitwell?" Natasha asked. "Jasper Sitwell? Stark, what is this list?"

"This," Tony said, "is a Fifth Column within SHIELD."

"A what?" several of them said at once.

"The Spanish Civil War," Steve said, moving closer to the screens. "Spanish General Emilio Mola is reported to have said that there was a 'Fifth Column' of people in Madrid that would help the Army defeat the occupying force."

"So, what you're saying is that this list represents a… what? A secret club within SHIELD?" Clint asked. "For what purpose?"

"How many of these people were hired by Pierce?" Pepper asked.

Coulson turned and looked at her. "What are you thinking?"

"That loyalty is a powerful force," she said. "And that as Director of SHIELD, he'd have been in a position to hire people that would be willing to follow him anywhere."

"Yeah, but Pierce hasn't been Director of SHIELD for at least ten years," Clint said. "It's been Fury since before I joined."

"And how many of the people Fury recruited were suggested by Pierce?" Banner asked.

"Garret's a tool," Clint said. "I can see him being part of some Assholes-R-Us club. But Sitwell? He's a good guy. Hell, I was at his wedding. Coulson was the Best Man, for fuck's sake. No way he's part of any fifth column inside SHIELD."

"How did you come up with this list, Stark?" Maria asked.

"I looked at the list of secret bases and pulled the names of everyone who'd ever visited or been assigned," JARVIS said. "I then cross-referenced that with the access and assignments lists for all the other SHIELD bases. The only agents who ever visited the secret bases are the ones on this list."

"Is that uncommon?" Steve asked. He'd visited several Army bases in Europe during the war, but his service had been unusual in more than one way, so he knew that wasn't any kind of litmus test.

"In SHIELD? Very," Maria said. "Advancement depends on gaining a wide variety of experience. The best way to get that experience is to rotate among the different departments and bases."

"Unlike most other Federal agencies, we encourage our agents to keep moving," Coulson said. 

"You don't make Level 6 unless you've made the rounds," Clint said. "That's when you start on the command track—if that's your goal—so they want you to know as much as possible about all areas of SHIELD operations."

Natasha snorted. "Yeah, right. Like anyone's going to put you in charge of anything."

"Hey!" Clint said, kicking out at Natasha, who casually dodged his foot.

"So, what are we saying here?" Steve said, trying to get the conversation back on track. "Are we saying that Pierce has created his own army within SHIELD?"

"That's what it looks like," Tony said. "That's the worse news, by the way."

"Well, fuck."

Everyone turned to look at Banner, who shrugged. 

"The question is, what's next?" Maria asked. "If this really is Pierce's doing, what's he planning, and how do we stop it?"

"That is a very good question," Tony said. "JARVIS?"

Once again, the screens changed. This time, there were three locations projected on the screens.

"That looks like the old Lexington Savings and Loan in Arlington," Clint said, pointing at one of the screens. "Why does SHIELD own a defunct bank?"

"SHIELD has purchased a lot of different buildings over the years," Maria said. "Usually when we were looking at expanding our footprint. This one isn't anywhere near any of our bases, though, which explains why you were interested."

"That and the power consumption curve is way off," Banner said. "For a defunct bank, it's drawing a fuckton of power off the grid."

"And that's the Lemurian Star," Coulson said. "It's a satellite launch platform, but it's not a black site. Why is it on your list?"

"A lot of the people on that list of suspicious people have visited that ship," Tony said. "Enough that it makes me wonder what else is going on out there, besides launching satellites."

"Sounds like something we'd want to check out," Banner said. "What's this other one?"

"That looks like Camp Lehigh, in New Jersey," Steve said. "It's where I trained before Rebirth."

"Isn't that place decommissioned?" Maria asked.

Pepper got up off her stool and stepped in front of the monitors, her eyes scanning the information JARVIS had provided. "Then why is someone paying to keep the lights on?"

"What are you proposing here, Stark?" Coulson asked.

"JARVIS' analysis kicked these three locations out as suspicious," Tony said. "I think maybe we should pay them a visit."

"What are you hoping to find?" Steve asked.

Tony shrugged. "Don't know. What I do know is that two of these locations were buried so deep it took JARVIS three days to find them, even after we got our hands on the encryption key. Seems to me that if someone went to such great lengths to hide these bases—or hide what's going on there—maybe we should be wondering why."

"He has a point," Clint said.

"Yes, he does," Coulson said. "Alright. Maria, let's do a deep-dive on these three locations. Find out all you can, and then look at what it would take to visit each one. As quietly as possible."

"You got it," Maria said.

Steve took a deep breath. He didn't like the implications of this, but it made him glad he'd let Tony talk him out of signing on with SHIELD. They'd offered him a spot after he and Clint returned from Olympus, but Tony had made the argument that there was still too much he didn't understand about the modern world. It wouldn't serve him or SHIELD if he just threw himself into a war zone again without trying to get his head around this new world first.

Looked like all that time he'd spent studying the 21st century was about to pay off.

~o~

The summons from Pierce had come as a huge surprise to all of them, but maybe it shouldn't have. Tony was pretty sure Pierce was going to make one last effort to recruit Captain America. 

Steve hated the idea that Pierce might not even see Steve as the Captain, but he shouldn't have been surprised. After all, the SHIELD briefing materials on the rest of the Avengers that Fury had given him painted Iron Man and Tony Stark as two different people.

Steve knew for a fact that that was the farthest thing from the truth. Tony had changed a lot in the six years between the creation of the Iron Man armor and the battle with the Chitauri. He was still the genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist he'd always claimed to be. Only now he used his money, power and influence for the good of humanity.

Still, he understood Pierce's goal; there was no better way to assess your enemy than to sit across the table from him. Steve was actually quite curious about Pierce. He'd never met the man, so this would be his first opportunity to size him up.

Tony had insisted on Steve taking his jet—and a bodyguard—and had wanted to put him in a custom-tailored suit, but Steve had put his foot down. No one was going to believe that Steve Rogers was anything other than exactly what he was: an all-American guy. Tony had practically choked when Steve had pulled out khakis and a plaid shirt, but Steve wasn't going to put on airs for this meeting.

Interestingly enough, it had been Clint that had volunteered to join him. Of all the Avengers, he and Clint had become the closest. His friendship with Clint was unexpected, and while it couldn't replace what he'd had with Bucky, it was still good to have someone to turn to; someone who understood the weirdness of his life.

"You ready?" Clint asked, breaking into his thoughts.

Tony had arranged a car service to pick them up and deliver them to the Triskelion. Steve hadn't been to the complex since before the Chitauri invasion. He'd found the building too large and overly complex—pretentious in the extreme, as if SHIELD were trying to look like the best agency in the Federal pantheon, instead of actually being the best agency.

"Yeah, I'm ready," Steve said. 

Clint opened the door and got out of the car. Instead of sliding across the seat, Steve opted to open the door on his side and step out. He rolled his shoulders, settling his bomber-style jacket around him as he passed behind the car and joined Clint on the curb.

"Shall we?" Clint asked.

Steve nodded. "Let's go."

They headed for the building entrance, walking past Security with just a wave from Clint. Steve was honestly surprised they hadn't even stopped him to check ID. Then again, if Pierce wanted him to feel at home in SHIELD, this was one way to do it. Remind Steve that he was well-known within the agency and already accepted as a member.

They stepped into an elevator and rocketed up to the top floor. Steve wasn't sure he'd ever get used to how fast the elevators moved in tall buildings like this one. At least the elevators in the Tower didn't make you feel like you'd left your stomach in the basement.

When they'd reached the top floor, the doors slid open, revealing a large suite to one side, and what looked like a command center on the other. Clint led the way to the office suite, pushing the door open, allowing Steve to enter first.

"Captain," Pierce said, standing up behind the large glass desk that dominated the room.

"Mr. Pierce," Steve said. Pierce reached across the desk, holding out his hand to shake. Steve took it in a firm grasp, pumping it once before letting go.

Pierce darted his eyes to Clint. "Agent Barton. I didn't realize I'd have the pleasure of your company today."

Clint dropped into one of the chairs in front of the desk. "You know me, I hate to miss a party."

"Wouldn't you be more comfortable outside?" Pierce asked.

"Nah," Clint said, settling in. "But thanks."

Pierce gave him one more long, hard look before refocusing on Steve. Pierce waved to a chair. "Please, have a seat. I appreciate your willingness to come see me."

"I was surprised to get your message," Steve said as he sat down.

"Well, Fury said you'd turned him down," Pierce said as he retook his seat, "so I thought I'd see if I could change your mind."

"I appreciate the sentiment, sir, but I'm happy where I am," Steve said.

"I'm not sure how you could be, Captain," Pierce said. "You were made specifically for the kind of work we do here. There's no such thing as a superhero, despite what Stark would have you believe. Your skills and talents will be wasted wiling away the hours in his ivory tower."

"Jesus," Clint said. "You don't pull any punches."

"You weren't invited to this conversation, Agent Barton, so I would ask you to please stay quiet," Pierce said, his tone barely-concealed hostility. Pierce turned back to Steve. "As I was saying, it's important that we show the world that we are serious about keeping the peace. Having Captain America lead the charge would go a long way to reassuring the people of just that."

"I'm not just Captain America, Mr. Pierce," Steve said, "and I resent the implication that the only value I have to you or anyone is tied to a costume and the shield."

"Of course you're not just Captain America," Pierce said. "I apologize if that was the impression I left you with. We would, of course, use you in a variety of ways. I'm sure there's a great deal a man like you can offer our organization."

"Not likely," Clint muttered. Pierce glared at him, which Steve found almost amusing. 

"I'm entirely too famous to be used in any undercover or infiltration operations," Steve said.

"Same would go for black ops," Clint said. "No way a guy in a red, white and blue costume isn't going to turn heads wherever he goes."

"There are ways to conceal your identity while still maintaining your connection to the idea of Captain America," Pierce said.

Steve raised an eyebrow. "Captain America is more than an idea. I'm a man who is loyal to my country. You can change the costume, but that won't change who I am."

"Captain, I think you're missing the point," Pierce said. "It doesn't matter what the color of your uniform is. What matters is that you're making a difference. SHIELD is the best place to make that difference."

"I beg to differ, sir," Steve said. He stood up, and Clint rose to join him. "The color of my uniform is symbolic, true. But that symbol means something to people. It's freedom and justice and loyalty. What would Captain America be without America?"

"You know, that 'America' you're so fond of," Pierce said, pushing to his feet, "we paid for that uniform you love so much. And the body you put into it every time you go into battle."

"Last time I checked, we don't have slavery in this country anymore," Clint said. He turned to Steve. "I checked before we left. Seemed like the thing to do."

"I don't blame you," Steve said. He turned back to Pierce. "You don't own me, and you never did. I am, whether you like it or not, free to do as I choose. And I choose to fight for the people of this country—for the people of this world—as I see fit. I'd like to say I'm sorry for that, but I can't. I'll never regret following my conscience, Mr. Pierce. An honest man can do no better."

"You'll come to regret this, Captain," Pierce said.

"Perhaps," Steve said, shrugging. "But if I do, I'll have to live with that guilt. I'm willing to take that risk."

Steve didn't wait for Pierce's reply, just turned and walked away, Clint right behind him. They waited quietly for the elevator to arrive. When the doors slid open, they entered the empty car and Clint pressed the button for the lobby.

When they stepped out on the main floor, they headed straight for the exit. No one stopped them, or even questioned the fact that they were leaving barely thirty minutes after they'd arrived. They waited until they were in the car and on the way back to the airport to let their guard down.

"Fuck," Steve muttered, rubbing his hands over his face. "Did he really just do that?"

"You meant the part where he intimated that SHIELD owns your body because the SSR helped develop the serum that made you what you are today?" Clint asked. "Yeah, he kinda did."

"Wow," Steve said.

"Yeah, who knew he had the stones to threaten Captain America," Clint said. He slouched down in his seat. "It's gonna make the company Christmas party really awkward, you know?"

Steve couldn't help himself; he laughed. "Thanks for that. I'm not sure I'd be able to see the humor if it weren't for you."

"Not sure there's anything humorous about a moustache-twirling villain bent on world domination, but okay."

"Do you think he was trying to sideline me?" Steve asked. "I mean, if he could get me on his side, that'd be one less threat he'd have to account for."

"We'll have to ask Banner if SHIELD tried to recruit him," Clint said. "Because I don't think you're far off, and if that's the case then Pierce is either getting desperate, or he's getting ready to make a move."

~o~

"So, how are you doing, really?" Sam asked over lunch the next day.

Steve reached for his glass of water, taking a long sip as he thought about the confrontation with Pierce. "I'm okay. Life's been moving at a breakneck pace for what seems like years. It probably hasn't been that long, but it feels like it some days."

"I hear ya, man," Sam said. He took a bite of the pizza and chewed thoughtfully before swallowing. "But you're a lot closer to your enlistment than most of the guys I talk to, so I just want to make sure you're not… struggling."

"I'm not struggling," Steve said with a lopsided smile. "At least, no more than usual. I was always pretty good at compartmentalizing, so it isn't the memory of battles that I tend to struggle with."

"It's losing the familiar, right?" Sam asked. "That's gotta suck."

"It wasn't easy," Steve said. He leaned back in his chair, tossing his napkin on his plate. He'd taken Sam to Nonna's Pizzeria in Brooklyn, one of the few places that was exactly the same today as it had been in the 40's. That had been a welcome surprise, but unfortunately, those types of surprises were few and far between. "New York is still loud and bright, but it's different in ways I didn't expect. And the people I knew are mostly gone."

"Except for Nonna," Sam said.

Steve chuckled. The Nonna he'd known had passed away not long after the war. Her daughter had taken over the restaurant, and now everyone called her Nonna. Steve remembered her from his younger days, but she was just like most everyone he remembered from back then: older, greyer, and with a lifetime of memories that the ice had robbed him of.

"I remember her mother," Steve said. "The original Nonna. She was this tiny spitfire of a woman."

"Taller than you?" 

"Ha, ha," Steve said. "Nonna did have a couple of inches on me. She was always trying to mother me, especially after my own mother died. I always appreciated that someone besides Bucky was looking out for me."

"People like her make the big city feel like a small town," Sam said. "I know a couple of people like that back in DC."

"Plus, being friends with Tony Stark means there's no time to feel sorry for myself," Steve said. "After the battle, he threw all of us into the recovery effort. We worked at some of the shelters in the area, and helped remove some of the largest debris. And of course, Tony threw some pretty amazing fundraisers. That man could talk a turtle out of its shell."

Sam threw back his head and laughed. "I get that vibe from the YouTube videos I've seen."

"He's a good man," Steve said. "I knew his father. They're a lot alike, not that I'd tell Tony that. He's worked hard all his life to distinguish himself from Howard Stark. It hasn't been easy for him, but I respect that he's working at being his own man."

"How's he doing after the battle?" Sam asked.

"He has a project he's working on," Steve said, skirting the issue of exactly what that project was. "It keeps him pretty busy. And with the recovery, it's almost like having another job. I don't know how he does it, but he makes it look easy."

"Not into shrinks, is he?" Sam said, a knowing glint in his eye.

"Tony doesn't like talking about personal things," Steve said. "I think he talks to Pepper—Ms. Potts, his girlfriend—and maybe Dr. Banner, but I know he hasn't talked to me. I'm not sure I'd know what to say to him if he did, honestly."

"The same thing I'd say to him, or you, or anybody," Sam said. He leaned forward, bracing his forearms on the table, looking Steve in the eye. "That it's okay to not be okay. That it's okay to have good days and bad days, as long as you're moving forward. That the best way to beat feeling isolated and alone is to get out there with people, to join the real world instead of retreating from it. Find a hobby, maybe a girl. Live."

"Just like that, huh?" Steve asked with some bemusement.

"Oh, fuck no," Sam said, chuckling. "Not even close. But the important part is to live your life. See a movie, go to a concert, hang out with friends. Make new memories to replace the ones that keep you up at night. Eventually, you'll be able to let go of all the bad stuff, so you're only left with the good. It's a process, but frankly, so is living."

"So I've learned," Steve said. He shook his head. "I guess when I went into the ice, I expected that to be it. Waking up was a hell of a shock. It just seems like every time I turn a corner, I'm smacked in the face with what I've lost. I even went to see Peggy. Did I tell you that?"

"No, you didn't," Sam said, frowning. "How was she?"

Steve sighed. "Frankly, not good. She has something called Alzheimer's disease. She barely remembered me. It was… heartbreaking to see her like that. She had these lucid moments where she remembered me and everything about our time in the war. Then she'd close her eyes, and when she opened them… it was like finding out I'd lived all over again."

"I'm sorry you had to go through that," Sam said. "They call it 'The Long Goodbye'. Not hard to figure why, with stories like yours."

"Yeah," Steve said. He sighed. "You about done?"

"Please," Sam said. "Any more and I'm not gonna fit in my clothes when I get home."

Steve waved Nonna over, who fussed and fawned over the both of them for the few minutes it took to convince Steve that their meal was on the house.

"You saved us all, Captain," she said with a smile, patting his arm. "Besides, Mama always loved you, so you're never going to pay for your meals here as long as I'm around."

"Thanks, but that's really not necessary," Steve said. "I—"

"What he means is, thank you," Sam said. He tapped Steve on the arm with the back of his hand. "The pizza was fantastic, by the way. Next time I'm in New York, I'm bringing my friends."

"Any friend of Steve Rogers is welcome here," Nonna said. "And veterans eat for free on Tuesdays, so bring all your friends. It'd be our pleasure to serve them."

"Thanks, ma'am," Sam said. He turned to Steve. "You ready?"

"Yes," Steve said. "Thanks."

They waved at Nonna on the way out. Steve sighed as they walked down the street toward the train. "I don't think I'm ever going to get used to people doing things like that. I don't want special treatment. I did what I had to—in World War II and during the Chitauri invasion—to save people's lives. I'm not expecting payback."

"I know, but the thing you have to understand about people in this country is that there's a little bit of atonement going on here," Sam said. "After Vietnam, the soldiers coming home weren't treated well. That all changed in the 90's after Desert Storm. Our returning soldiers were celebrated as heroes, and some of that still goes on today. People know to blame our political leaders for policies they don't like, not the soldiers on the ground. It took a long time to get there, but for most of us, it's worth a lot when someone simply says 'thank you'."

"I'm glad things have changed," Steve said. "I would have broken my heart if I'd seen anyone treated poorly just for doing their jobs."

They turned down an alley—an old shortcut to the subway station nearest Nonna's—when Steve noticed they were being followed. Sam glanced at him, raising one eyebrow. Steve's eyes darted over his shoulder briefly, but it was enough to let Sam know there was something amiss. 

The deeper into the alley they got, the more men gathered behind them. Soon enough, there were a half dozen behind them, and several more waiting near the mouth to the alley. They were all dressed in black tactical gear, though none of them had their faces covered. Steve didn't like the implications of that. 

Steve slowed down, Sam following suit. They stopped and looked around; Steve thought he recognized several of the men they were facing. He'd wondered what Pierce's next move would be. Looked like he was about to find out.

"I'm going to apologize now for whatever happens next," Steve said to Sam. 

Before Sam could formulate a reply, two of the men in the group broke off and came at them. Steve dodged the fist aimed at his face and flipped the man over his shoulder, turning just in time to take on the next attacker. He glanced at Sam, but the man was holding his own against two attackers. Steve was impressed, but he didn't have time to think about it because another attacker was coming at him.

Steve laid out two more attackers, one with a fist to the solar plexus and another with a kick to his midsection. Then a third man came at him with a knife drawn. Steve grabbed the lid off a nearby trash can and used it as both a shield and bludgeon, hitting the man with an uppercut under his chin. He slumped to the ground, unconscious.

By the time Steve had knocked out the last man, he was winded, scraped and bloodied. He glanced around, finding Sam still on his feet, looking bruised and battered but still alive. Around them, their attackers were either still unconscious or groaning in pain.

"You okay?" Steve asked as he wiped the blood off his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

"’Let's have lunch’, he says," Sam said, shaking his head. "If I'd known hanging with you was this dangerous, I'd have brought my gun."

"Didn't look like you needed one," Steve said. 

"PJs train for all conditions, including active resistance by the enemy," Sam said by way of explanation. "Who are these guys?"

"SHIELD, I think," Steve said.

"I thought they were supposed to be the good guys," Sam said, surprise in his tone.

Steve shrugged. "Theoretically, but their boss isn't a very nice guy."

"That's putting it mildly," Sam said. "We should probably go before these guys recover enough to get organized."

"Yeah," Steve said. "Come on. I'll take you to the Tower. Tony needs to hear about this."

"What does—" Sam started to ask, then held up a hand. "You know what? I probably don't want to know."

"No, you probably don't," Steve agreed as he headed for the other end of the alley and the subway station.

~o~


	5. Chapter 5

~o~

Steve stepped into Tony's main lab still bloodied and bruised; he hadn't bothered to clean up after the alley fight, he'd just dragged Sam with him to the lab where JARVIS said he was currently working. The music was deafening, but at least it sounded more like music that the stuff Tony normally listened to.

Tony glanced up, frowning as he took in Steve's appearance. "J, kill the music. May I say, Cap, you certainly look like you've had better days."

"We ran into some old friends," Steve said. "Tony Stark, meet Sam Wilson."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Stark," Sam said. Steve had warned him that Tony wasn't really much for shaking hands, so Sam hadn't even bothered to stick his out, just waved a little.

"Please, Mr. Stark has been dead for twenty years," Tony said. "Call me Tony."

"Alright, Tony," Sam said. He glanced around at the general chaos in the large space. "Nice lab you've got here. This where the magic happens?"

"You could say that," Tony said. "So what happened to you two? Pick a fight with a couple of orcs?"

"A comparison could probably be drawn," Sam said, "but according to the Boy Wonder here, it was SHIELD."

"We'd just left the restaurant and were headed back to the subway when they jumped us," Steve said. 

Tony raised an eyebrow. "Well, that's interesting. Bush league, but interesting."

"We were wondering when he was going to make his move," Steve said. "I'm guessing that was it."

"Yeah, but why do it in broad daylight using SHIELD agents?" Tony asked. "I mean, from what you and Clint said, he was pissed, but he let you walk out of the building."

"Who are we talking about here?" Sam asked. "'Cuz I gotta tell ya, the fact that I've just been attacked by a bunch of agents from a Federal agency isn't making me feel all that great about my life choices right now."

"You didn't tell him?" Tony asked.

Steve shook his head. "I didn't want to get into it on the train, and frankly, I'm not sure he'd believe me even if I did tell him."

"Tell who what?"

All three men turned around to see Dr. Banner walking into the room.

"Brucie," Tony said, waving the other scientist over. "Meet Steve's new BFF, Sam Wilson. He's—what exactly do you do, anyway? And why aren't you doing it right now?"

"Stark," Steve said, exasperated.

"I work for the VA as a counselor," Sam said, not appearing to be bothered by Tony's snark. "Before that, I was an Air Force PJ."

"Pararescue, huh?" Tony said. He gave a low whistle, clearly impressed. "Those crazy bastards parachute in behind enemy lines to retrieve downed pilots."

"That's us," Sam said. "Although my unit used prototype jetpacks with a wing assembly. Way cooler than the 'chutes."

"I think I saw those blueprints when I was tiptoeing through the SHIELD database," Tony said. "JARVIS?"

"I did indeed find them," JARVIS said. 

Blueprints started popping up on the screens around the room. Steve stepped over to the nearest screen looking at the crazy contraption that Sam apparently used to perform his job.

"How did SHIELD get the blueprints?" Sam asked.

"Probably stole them from the Air Force when the program was shitcanned," Tony said, shrugging. "Seems like they got a lot of their tech by appropriating the shit that the other branches developed and then abandoned."

"Jesus," Sam said.

"Back to my original question," Banner said. "Tell who what?"

"Tell Sam about Ares and Pierce and the whole SHIELD clusterfuck," Tony said.

"There's a SHIELD clusterfuck?" Sam asked. "And what the hell does the Greek god of war have to do with it?"

"Oh boy," Banner said. 

"I'll give you the Cliff's Notes version," Tony said. "Some of our friends are Greek gods in human form—well, Alexander Pierce isn't our friend, but he is Ares—and they've come to Earth to help stop Pierce from doing whatever it is the god of war does for fun. Currently, we suspect he's created a Fifth Column within SHIELD."

"We're working on a plan to stop him," Steve said. "He can't be allowed to do whatever he's got planned. It could have devastating consequences for this country, and potentially the world."

"Fuck," Sam said, rubbing his hands over his face.

Banner snorted. "That's what I said."

"You're not just jerking my chain, are you?" Sam asked. "I mean, I'd love for this to be some sort of mass hallucination, but I get the feeling that you're not fucking with me."

"I'd like to tell you this is all a joke, but I can't," Steve said. "I went to Olympus last year, right after the Battle of Manhattan. Hera had kidnapped a friend of ours, so I went with a SHIELD agent named Clint Barton—Hermes, in human form—to get him back."

"Wait, how did you go to Olympus?" Sam asked. "I thought only the gods could go to Olympus?" He paused. "I can't believe I just asked that question."

"It turns out that the Super Soldier serum that transformed me was based on the blood of a Titan," Steve said. "Hera, to be specific. It made me a demi-god."

"A demi-god," Sam said, faintly. "And are you the only one?"

Tony snorted. "Not even close. Turns out Hera went a little crazy making demi-gods. Phil Coulson—our SHIELD liaison—is the latest to join the demi-god club. Bruce here joined the party after 9/11. Well, Hulk did, anyway."

Sam cut his eyes over to Banner, who waved his hand. "It wasn't quite the perfect transformation she'd been hoping for. Ares had something to do with that, we think."

"Anything else you need to spring on me today?" Sam asked. "Because I'm almost at my limit. Any more weird shit and my head might just explode."

"Please don't do that," Tony said. "You'd be surprised how hard it is to get grey matter off the walls. Dum-E really hates scrubbing."

"Now I know you're fucking with me," Sam said, pointing at Tony.

"I like this one," Tony said with a smile.

"So, what now?" Banner asked.

"We should probably talk about the timeline for our next phase," Steve said. "Pierce attacking me must be a sign that he's getting nervous. I don't want to lose any advantage we might have by waiting too long."

"J, what's the status on Maria's research project?"

"Agent Hill has completed her research as is preparing the briefing package as we speak," JARVIS said. 

"Looks like we're almost good to go," Tony said. He turned to Sam, tipping his head as he examined Steve's friend. "How'd you like to become a junior member of the Avengers?"

~o~

Maria sat in the Avengers command center, an array of monitors in front of her. Each one was showing her satellite feeds, scanning data and camera images for the three teams currently out in the field. 

Beside her, Dr. Banner was sipping on a cup of coffee, watching the missions unfold. He'd declined adding himself to the New Jersey and DC missions—Iron Man was headed for the Lemurian Star, and not even Hulk could fly—preferring to watch from afar. She appreciated the company, and the extra set of eyes, so she hadn't objected to having him join her.

"Looks like Steve and Sam will arrive onsite in about fifteen minutes," Banner said. 

The Stark Industries satellite had been tasked for overwatch on this mission, and Maria didn't even want to think about how much it had cost to re-task it from whatever it had been doing. The way Stark threw around money like it was nothing would be appalling except that it had made it possible for the Avengers to split from SHIELD without losing anything essential.

"Yes," Maria said. "Steve's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when Stark showed him the bikes. I'm not surprised they're breaking all land speed records to get out there."

"Might also have something to do with where they're going," Banner said.

Maria sighed. She'd wanted to be the one to go with Steve to Camp Lehigh, but she recognized that her value on these missions was in the command center, providing backup and support. She knew this was going to be hard on Steve—the memories of his time there, and the memories of the people he'd known there were going to be fresh in his mind—but she had to trust that Sam would watch his back.

She'd liked Sam the moment she'd met him, more because he seemed to have taken an interest in making sure Steve was well-adjusted and coping with the rapid changes in his life. Not just as a friend, though she knew Sam viewed Steve as a friend, but also as a VA counselor. 

She was angry with herself for not realizing Steve might need that kind of help. As an Olympian, she didn't suffer the mental issues that some humans did. She could compartmentalize her time as a human from her life in Olympus, but more than that, she simply didn't feel the traumas of life in the same way. She was immortal, for all intents and purposes, so her perspective on the difficulties of life was vastly different than that of humans.

"Do we think there's any security measures in any of these places?" Banner asked.

"My initial scans indicate that the bank has cameras and motion sensors on the outside of the building," JARVIS said. "Beyond that, I will not be able to ascertain any countermeasures until our teams are able to gain access to the facilities."

"Well, I'm almost at the Lemurian Star, so we'll get a good look at whatever made your Spidey Sense tingle, J," Stark said.

"Nice of you to join us," Maria said. "What's your ETA?"

"I'm five minutes out," Stark said. "JARVIS, start scanning the ship. Low frequency only; I don't want these guys getting wind of our arrival."

"I am already getting data," JARVIS said. "Multiple signals from the ship. It appears they are using it as a listening post. I have re-tasked a satellite to low-Earth orbit to complete the download of all data from the ship's mainframe once you have placed the transmitter."

"On it," Stark said.

"You think there's more data being hidden on this ship?" Banner asked.

"It's an isolated system," Maria said. "If I was trying to hide some questionable activities, I'd look for an offshore location I could exploit."

They heard a dull thud over the comms. "Transmitter is away. The scrambler is doing its job; they don't appear to have even noticed I'm here."

"Okay, I'm getting downloaded data," Maria said. She watched as lines and lines of code appeared on a wall of screens off to her right. Banner wandered over and started looking through the data. "Anything interesting?"

"Hell if I know," Banner said. "Coding's not really my specialty. There's surveillance data popping up, though. Names, dates, people. Some photos. Lots of documents."

"Did you know this ship has cruise missiles?" Stark said conversationally.

"What?" Maria nearly shouted as Banner rejoined her. "What do you mean it's got missiles. It's a satellite launch platform. Technically it isn't even supposed to have surveillance equipment on board."

"I'm seeing launch platforms fore and aft," Stark said. "Surface to air missiles. Not the latest generation, but that doesn't surprise me considering they were trying to keep this thing under the radar."

"Have they spotted you yet?" Maria asked. She really didn't like the idea that Stark was flying around with a dozen missiles pointed in his general direction.

"No sign they're even aware of my presence, but that won't hold," Stark said. "I'm about to do a fly-by. Let's see what kind of a rise I can get out of them."

"Be careful, Stark," Maria said. "I don't want to have to explain to Pepper how you got your ass killed on a surveillance mission."

"Not planning to get killed," Stark said. "Hmmm, looks like they've finally woken up. I've got crew scrambling to what looks like battle stations."

"Now would be a good time to take your leave," Maria said. "We've got what we need."

"Just—"

The sounds of explosions echoed in the command center. Maria looked at Banner, who had wandered back to the main console. 

"JARVIS, what—"

"Sir was fired upon by several missiles," JARVIS said. "He was able to evade them, but the Lemurian Star appears to have self-destructed. The blast wave knocked his comms offline; I am attempting to repair them now. He is otherwise unharmed."

"Oh, thank the gods," Maria said.

"I'll say," Banner said. His face, which had been taking on a slightly green tint, appeared to be retreating to normal.

"Your concern is touching, both of you," Stark said. His transmission was staticky, but at least they could hear him.

"Are you okay?" Maria asked.

"I'm gonna be one big bruise tomorrow, but otherwise I'm okay," Stark said. "Can't say the same for the Lemurian Star, though. It's a smoking cinder right now."

"I estimate it will sink in 3.6 minutes," JARVIS said.

"Did you get everything off the ship's mainframe?" Maria asked.

"I was able to extract approximately 93% of the data from the mainframe," JARVIS said. "I prioritized the various systems for download. The remaining files were sanitation system logs. Unimportant for your purposes, I believe."

Maria shook her head as she smiled. When she glanced at Banner, he looked back, shrugging his shoulders. "I don't really want to know about the plumbing, do you?"

"No," Maria said, chuckling. "No, I don't think that's relevant"

"How long do you think before SHIELD realizes the Lemurian Star didn't blow up by accident?" Banner asked.

"Well, if they took any scans of Iron Man, that data went down with the ship, so to speak," Stark said. "The signal jammer worked as advertised; JARVIS didn't detect any outgoing signals before the explosion."

"Indeed, I did not," JARVIS said. "I believe the only reason they fired upon Iron Man is because they made visual contact."

"Well, that's something," Maria said. "Alright, Stark, head back to the Tower. If you're lucky, Pepper won't be back from her meeting and you can clean yourself up before she gets back."

"Will do," Stark said.

"Let's hope the other two missions are less exciting," Banner said.

"I’ll second that," Maria said.

~o~

Steve rolled his motorcycle to a stop about a hundred yards from the main gate of Camp Lehigh. Sam rolled to a stop beside him, leaning back as they both scanned the area. The base had been decommissioned ages ago, and it looked like it, but someone was paying to keep the power on, which made it someplace they needed to look at.

He tapped the comm unit in his ear. "Maria, we're just outside the gates. The whole place looks deserted."

"Looks can be deceiving," Maria said. "The Lemurian Star self-destructed just after Iron Man made contact. Stark says he didn't do it, and JARVIS couldn't detect any messages in or out. Watch your backs."

"Yes, ma'am," Steve said. He glanced at Sam, who was frowning. 

"That can't be good," Sam said. "If they—whoever they are—gets wind of that ship sinking, there's no telling what'll be waiting for us inside these gates."

"Keep an eye out for anything that looks out of place," Steve said.

Sam huffed. "This place has been decommissioned since the 50's. Electricity would be out of place."

"Har, har," Steve said.

He fired up the motorcycle—it was electric, but like so many of Tony's gadgets, it made every effort to appear exactly as it was supposed to, including sounding like a Harley even if it wasn’t one—and rolled up outside the gates. They both dismounted, rolling the bikes off to the side of the gate, obscured by some bushes that hadn't been trimmed in ages.

When Steve was reasonably sure that no one could spot the bikes, either from the ground or the air, he walked over to the gate, his eyes scanning for anything that didn't look like it had come out of the 50s. 

"The metal looks rusted," Sam said. "One god shove and the gate might just fall off the hinges."

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Maria said. "Looks like there's a contact point in the hinge. Which means there may be sensor devices that'll trip some kind of alarm if the gates are opened."

"You know, that's not creepy at all," Sam said sarcastically, tapping the goggles Tony had given them as they were suiting up for the mission. 

They were what Tony had called a HUD—heads-up display—meant to allow anyone back at the command center to see what they were seeing. Steve didn't like the idea of anyone spying on him, but at the same time, he appreciated that he didn't have to describe everything he was seeing. It saved time, and in his experience, saving time often meant saving lives.

Steve just snorted. "Alright, so the front door's a no-go. How do we get in? I mean, I'm pretty sure I can jump the fence—literally—but is there some other sensing device on the other side?"

"A scan of the area using both satellite data and the cameras in your goggles shows no other monitoring devices in close proximity to the gate," JARVIS said. "I am not detecting any signals emanating from any of the buildings within the camp."

"Closed system?" Sam asked. Steve just looked at him quizzically. He had no idea what that meant, but he could guess if pressed. "That'd make sense."

"Indeed it would," JARVIS said. "But we won't know with any certainty until you locate the source of the power draw."

"For the rest of the class," Steve said. "Closed system?"

"He means that if there are computers or maybe a camera system onsite, they aren't connected to any kind of network outside the camp," Maria said. "No signals are leaving the camp, so I'm inclined to agree."

"And yet there's at least one building still on the power grid," Steve said. "Which means someone's using it. If it is connected to a closed system, then that would mean someone must be onsite monitoring the system."

He could hear the sound of Maria sucking in a breath. "Be careful," she said quietly, and he could hear the strain in her voice, as if she were holding herself in check, holding back what she really wanted to say.

"We will be," Steve said just as quietly. "I may heal faster than a normal human, but that doesn't mean it's any fun getting shot. Still hurts like a mother—"

"You okay?" Maria asked sharply when his words were reduced to a muffled squeak.

"He's fine," Sam said. "I just feel like maybe Captain America shouldn't be swearing like a drunken sailor."

Steve shook off Sam's hand, clamped over his mouth. "You do know I was in the Army, right? And I lived in Brooklyn before that. I was using colorful language almost from the cradle."

"And there goes my image of Captain America as wholesome and innocent," Sam said, shaking his head.

"Alright, you two," Maria said, but he could hear the smile in her voice. He shot Sam a grateful smile. "Get over that fence and see what you can find. JARVIS will project the locations still drawing power on your HUD."

"Right," Sam said. 

He backed up a bit, activated the jet pack on his back and allowed the wings to unfurl. Pressing a button, he shot up into the sky, wobbled a bit but regained his equilibrium fairly quickly.

"'Small power enhancement', he said," Sam muttered. "'You'll barely notice it', he said. Does that man ever not go overboard?"

Steve chuckled as he jogged back closer to where they'd stopped when they first arrived. He took a running start, pushing himself off the ground and summersaulting over the top of the fence. He landed in a crouch at just about the same moment that Sam touched down next to him.

"You're talking about Stark," Steve said. "He assembled the Iron Man suit from spare missile parts in a cave in Afghanistan. I'm not sure overkill is even a word in his personal dictionary."

"I can confirm that to be the case, Captain," JARVIS said. "Also, the thrusters he used for your jetpack are based on designs he used for his Mark IV Iron Man suit. They are far more efficient and controllable than the original design as laid out by the Air Force."

"Good to know," Sam said.

"Looks like the building with the most power consumption is this way," Steve said, pointing to their left.

They headed off in that direction, heads swiveling in all directions as they assessed whether any of the other buildings were in use. JARVIS' readings led them to the command headquarters for the Camp. A quick check of the door showed there was no visible signs of any sensors or other monitoring equipment, so they pushed the door open and went inside.

"This place hasn't changed much," Steve said. 

The rows of desks were familiar to Steve, though he hadn't seen them in years. The desks were clear of all contents save a layer of dust. It was like it was frozen in time, waiting for someone to come back and start using the space again. They walked down the rows of desks, turning toward the back hallway when they reached the end.

"The Colonel's office would have been back that way," Steve said, pointing to their right.

"What's down here?" Sam asked, standing in an open doorway as he peered inside.

"Down where?" Steve asked. He joined Sam, poking his head around the corner to look down what appeared to be a set of stairs. "I don't know. That wasn't there back when I was stationed here."

"Well, sounds like a good enough reason to check it out," Sam said.

"You getting anything, JARVIS?" Steve asked as he followed Sam down the stairs.

"This is currently the only building in the camp drawing large amounts of power," JARVIS said. "I am unable to detect anything beyond your current position. The basement space may be shielded."

"Be careful," Maria said. 

"Always," Steve said quietly.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and found what looked like a bank vault door.

"Well, whatever's inside, they wanted to make sure it didn't get out," Sam said.

"That's not at all reassuring," Maria said.

Sam looked at him, raising one eyebrow. Steve shrugged; he was loathe to explain in the middle of a mission, but he supposed that he should at least come clean to Sam about where things were with Maria. 

In the meantime, he turned his attention to the door. It was obvious that they weren't going to get in by merely turning the wheel, though he did try it without success.

"I'm going to try knocking the door mechanism off with my shield," Steve said.

"You sure that's a good idea?" Sam asked even as he stood back. "We have no idea if that thing's booby-trapped.

"I can detect no monitoring devices of any kind embedded in the walls, gentlemen," JARVIS said.

Steve pulled the shield off his back and put his arm through the straps. He raised the shield over his head and put all his not-inconsiderable strength behind a crushing, downward blow. The metal sparked and creaked, so he did it again. The lock assembly bent at an unnatural angle, so Steve struck it a third time and the whole thing gave way.

He put the shield back on his back and grabbed the door handle. Sam gripped the edge of the door as it swung away, lending his weight and strength to pulling it open. When they stepped inside, Steve froze.

"What the hell is all this?"

"That is some sort of ancient computer," Sam said. He moved into the room, stepping in to get a closer look at the refrigerator-sized units that stood in neat rows, arrayed around a center console that looked like it came out of one of those cheesy sci-fi movies Tony had made him sit down to watch.

"You mean it's been down here all this time, running without anyone to mind it?" Steve asked.

"Looks like," Sam said. "You guys getting all this?"

"I can see it," Banner said, speaking for the first time since they'd arrived. "Looks like a late-50s design. Tape storage, so memory retrieval is going to be slow. This would be why it's not networked."

"I don't even see any modem cables," Sam said. "Nothing but power cables plugged into a series of what look like surge-protected outlets in a bank on the far wall."

Steve had, by that time, crossed the room and was opening a door at the far end. "Looks like they have a back-up generator in here. Guess they wanted to make sure this thing stayed operational in the event of a power outage or natural disaster."

"JARVIS, you think you could hack this thing?" Sam asked.

"I shall endeavor to, if you will provide me with access," JARVIS said.

"Well, that's kind of suspicious," Sam said. Steve joined him at the console; Sam pointed to the one piece of new tech in the whole room. "There's a USB port in this console."

"Careful," Banner said as Sam plugged the thing Tony had given him into the slot. "It could have countermeasures attached that would punish anyone who didn't know the proper procedure for accessing the terminal."

"A little late on the warning, Doc," Sam said.

Both men stepped back, keen to stay out of the way of anything harmful, but the only thing that happened was that the console lit up like it had just been waiting for someone to interact with it.

"There are electronic countermeasures embedded within the programming," JARVIS said. "I have neutralized them and will proceed with the download."

"How long do you think before you can download all the data in that room?" Banner asked.

"I am capable of speeding up the data transfer without damaging the tape drives," JARVIS said, "so that what might ordinarily take eighteen hours will now take two or perhaps three hours."

Sam whistled in awe. Steve didn't really get all the technical jargon, but he understood that JARVIS was doing something much faster than any ordinary computer could.

"We have a satellite overhead, so we'll be able to see if anyone's coming," Maria said, "but keep your eyes open just the same."

"Will do," Sam said. He turned to Steve. "Now what?"

"Now," Steve said, pulling out a chair, "we wait."

"I hate waiting," Sam muttered as he grabbed the other chair.

~o~

Maria took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. That was two down and one more to go. She wouldn't really be able to relax until Steve and Sam were back in the Tower, but at least they appeared to be out of danger.

"Stark, if you're done admiring the Titanic, head over to Camp Lehigh," she said, rubbing her forehead.

"Awww," Stark said. "It's cute; the goddess brought low by the Super Soldier."

"Jesus, do you ever turn off the snark?" Maria asked.

Stark laughed. "That's standard equipment, installed at birth. Even Capsicle knows I got that from Dear Old Dad."

"He's not wrong," Banner said. Turning around from where he'd been watching the download. "I've seen newsreel footage of Stark Senior. The man was the King of Snark."

"Which makes me the Crown Prince. How appropriate," Stark said. "And by the way, the Lemurian Star is now headed for the bottom of the Atlantic. No survivors, so there's that. I'll head for New Jersey, see what Feathers and the Star-Spangled Choir Boy are up to."

"Just be careful," Maria said. "Pierce went to a lot of trouble to hide that data farm."

"Don't worry," Stark said. "It's me."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Maria muttered. 

Banner snorted. "If there's one thing I know about Tony Stark, it's that he's a trouble magnet. You have about as good a chance of keeping him out of trouble as you do getting the sun to rise in the west."

"Great," Maria said. 

"Maria, we're just about to head into the building."

Maria shifted gears, pulling up the specs on the bank building as she keyed her microphone to switch over to Strike Team Delta.

"I read you, Coulson," she said. "There's no indication that Pierce is aware that we've found the building. You should be clear for entry."

"I have disabled the camera on the rear door, Agent Coulson," JARVIS said.

"Thanks, JARVIS," Coulson said. "We're going in now."

The view on the main screen switched to Phil's glasses cam. Stark had—in a moment of insightfulness—integrated his camera and HUD into a pair of stylish glasses that wouldn't be out of place in a hipster bar. Phil had frowned at them, but had dutifully pocketed them and put them on once Delta had arrived on scene.

Delta entered the building, guns drawn as they quickly and quietly cleared each room along their path. It was honestly like watching a ballet the way they moved as one. Phil didn't often go into the field; he normally played the role of overwatch—Maria's current role—while Natasha and Clint did the heavy lifting.

They cleared the building room by room, finding nothing but dust motes and cobwebs.

"Man, this place has been deserted since the 80s," Clint said. "Unless somebody hid shit in the walls, I think this was a bust."

"The bank vault is closed," Natasha said. "Not something they normally do when they decommission a bank."

"Good thing I've got the universal key," Clint said, waving the small, black device in front of him.

He attached it to the bank vault door; lights on the front lit and went out in some sequence that Maria couldn't decipher.

"Agent Coulson, the combination should now appear on your glasses," JARVIS said.

"Yes, it is," Phil said. "Thank you."

"How'd he do that?" Banner said.

"The device Agent Barton used scans the locking mechanism, looking for grooves worn into the metal," JARVIS said.

"Because those grooves would have been worn into the mechanism with use over time," Banner said. "Ingenious. Also, should we be worried about Tony robbing a bank?"

"Sir has expressed on more than one occasion that robbing a bank is pedestrian, at best," JARVIS said. "He has furthermore stated that he currently has more money than many banks, so the effort would hardly be worth his wile."

"I assume you're monitoring that situation," Banner said. 

"Indeed, Dr. Banner," JARVIS said.

Banner snorted. On the screen, they could see the moment the vault door swung open, pulled by Phil and Natasha, with Clint holding a nocked arrow at the ready. Phil stepped around the open door and peered into the room.

"What the fuck is all this?" Clint asked as he cleared the room. When he was sure there wasn't any imminent danger, he put away his bow and arrow and circled the room. "Looks like a medieval torture chamber in here."

"There's a computer here," Phil said, stopping in front of a table with a desktop system and monitor. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a USB stick, plugging it into the port on the front of the tower. "JARVIS, see if you can download the data for us."

"Download in progress, sir," JARVIS said.

"Bozhemoy," Natasha said from across the room.

Phil and Clint turned and headed to where she stood in front of a refrigerator-sized storage unit with a window near the top of the door. Phil pushed himself up on his toes and peered inside. Maria could make out a man's face, though whether he was asleep or dead was anyone's guess.

"Any idea who he is, or was?" she asked.

"That's—I don't know his real name," Natasha said, and Maria could hear that she was shaken by whatever she had seen. "They called him The Winter Soldier. In the Red Room. He was trained there, long before I arrived. I'd heard stories, but I've never met him. They had data on him, though. And one of the instructors used to call him Yasha, though I don't know if it was because that was his name, or if she'd just called him that because calling him The Winter Soldier was… awkward."

"Any idea if he's dead or alive?" Maria asked. 

She hated how it sounded, but they needed to know. Not that they wouldn't be bringing the whole caboodle back to the Tower. Leaving Pierce's toys just laying around was a recipe for disaster.

"It would appear that he is alive, and in suspended animation," JARVIS said. "According to the files I have downloaded, they cryogenically freeze him between missions."

"Is there any biographical data on him?" Banner asked. "Anything we could use to identify him?"

"None, I'm afraid," JARVIS said. "But there is quite a bit of data on the freezing process, as well as the purpose for the chair in the middle of the room."

Maria saw all three members of Delta turn and look at the chair. "Do I want to know what it is?" Clint asked.

"Its purpose appears to be to wipe the memories of the subject—The Winter Soldier," JARVIS said. "A reset button, as it were."

"Fuck," Clint said. Maria wholeheartedly agreed.

"Alright, it looks like we're going to need to bring the whole thing back to the Tower," Maria said, fingers already moving across the console in front of her. "I'll spin up the retrieval team."

"I'll go with them," Banner said. "I want to have a look at that chamber before we try to unplug it. Do we know what the power source is?"

"It would appear that the chamber is connected to the main power grid in Arlington," JARVIS said. "But I can also detect a back-up generator on the premises that would have switched on in the event of power loss."

"Makes sense," Maria said. She turned to Banner. "Take one of Stark's portable Arc Reactors along. See if you can hook it up to the chamber so it'll have power during transport. I'd rather not defrost this guy until we know more about him and whatever's been done to him."

"Right," Banner said. "Because that's not creepy at all."

"Is there any data on how he went from Russian control to a bank vault in Virginia?" Clint asked.

"I have not completed a full scan of the data from the computer," JARVIS said. "The records appear to go back to the eighties, but I am unable to ascertain whether there is any specific information as to how he fell under the control of the Fifth Column within SHIELD. I will complete my scans of the data within the hour, and will send a report to Sir when I have more concrete answers."

"Please copy me on that report as well," Maria said. Banner raised his hand, never turning around from the video feed from Phil's glasses. Maria chuckled. "Copy Dr. Banner as well, please."

"Of course," JARVIS said.

She glanced at the flashing message in the corner of her screen. "The retrieval team is almost ready to leave. ETA is about an hour from now. They're waiting on you, Dr. Banner."

"Okay, I'm headed up to the roof now," he said. "I'll pick up a comms unit on the way, and keep you posted on what's happening."

"Thanks," Maria said as Banner headed out of the room. "Well, that went better than it had a right to."

"It's not over yet, Maria," Phil said. "We still have to get him back to the Tower. And process all the data."

"What are the odds that Pierce won't know his favorite toy is missing?" she asked.

"Slim to none, I'd say," Clint chimed in.

"Pierce is paranoid," Natasha said. "But he's also smart. He's going to trace this back to us with very little effort."

"We'll be expecting him," Maria said. "He's not as smart as he thinks he is. Too arrogant."

"That's what you think," Clint said, chuckling. "Besides, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition."

Maria just groaned.

~o~


	6. Chapter 6

~o~

The Quinjet carrying the Winter Soldier touched down on the rooftop landing pad of what was now being called Avengers Tower. Steve and Sam had returned to the Tower only an hour before; true to his word, JARVIS had taken just over three hours to download the data from the computers at Camp Lehigh.

Steve had returned to the Tower with enough time to shower and change before Strike Team Delta and the Retrieval Team arrived. He'd wanted to be there, to be on hand for the transfer, just in case. Banner had said that they'd had no trouble disconnecting the cryogenic chamber from the power in the building and hooking it up to the Arc Reactor, but since it was never designed to run on that power source, it was possible for things to go wrong in the blink of an eye.

The back ramp lowered, and Banner and Natasha walked down. Banner joined Steve at the edge of the landing pad, while Natasha stopped at the base of the ramp and watched carefully as they rolled the chamber down the ramp and towards the building.

"She okay?" Steve asked.

Banner shrugged. "I think she sees him as a kindred spirit, of a sort. She was still a bit shaken when I got there. If I had to guess, I'd say it's finding out that there's someone else still alive that went through what she went through in the Red Room."

They watched as the Retrieval Team wheeled the chamber into the service elevator. Natasha followed, completely ignoring both men. The Quinjet lifted off, and another took its place. Coulson and Clint walked down the ramp and the four of them headed for the elevators.

"Anything else happen while we were gone?" Coulson asked.

"You mean besides Stark blowing up the Lemurian Star?" Steve asked.

Clint snorted. "That guy does not know how to be subtle."

"To be fair, he didn't blow up the ship," Banner said. "That being said, he does have a nasty habit of things blowing up around him."

"Bad luck or bad timing?" Clint asked.

"Tony Stark hasn't suffered from either since he was five years old and had just finished disassembling his father's TV," Coulson said.

"He—huh," Banner said. "You know, that explains so much."

"What did Howard do?" Steve asked. "I mean, he must have punished Tony for it."

"He would have, except the TV got much better reception after Stark rebuilt it," Coulson said. "That's the story that's run around SHIELD, anyway. Who knows if it's true."

"Oh, it's true," Clint said. "We were talking about first times one night, and he told me about the first time he'd taken something apart. His Dad just about blew his stack, until he realized the TV worked so much better after Stark had put it back together. Fucking weird, too, because to hear Stark tell it, he didn't even do anything special to it before he reassembled it. He just wanted to see how it worked."

The elevator doors opened on the level just below the gym. Tony had built a Hulk-proof room as a sort-of panic room for Banner, just in case he ever needed it. It was the most secure room in the Tower, so it made sense to keep the Winter Soldier there until they were sure they knew what they were dealing with.

Steve stepped into the room and watched as the team positioned the chamber against the far wall. There was already monitoring equipment set up, which the Retrieval Team plugged into the chamber quickly and efficiently. The monitors sprang to life, beeping and blinking; Steve had no idea what any of it meant, but he trusted Tony when he said that they could keep the man secure and contained. 

Tony had been waiting for them in the Hulk's Lounge—as he'd started calling it—so he was directing traffic and carefully watching the readouts, quietly talking to the team that had brought the chamber in. It was rare to see Tony so focused and still; usually he was the loudest person in any room, flitting about like a humming bird.

He finally broke away from the hive of activity surrounding the chamber and joined the four of them. "Well, he survived the trip; the chamber is impressive technology for all that it's a relic from the eighties. JARVIS says he's finished crunching the data from the vault, so I'm gonna go study up on how to defrost our new friend. Hopefully he'll be more than a drooling vegetable when he wakes up."

"How likely is it that he'll survive the re-animation process?" Coulson asked.

"Given that the data JARVIS recovered says he's been defrosted multiple times over the last thirty years, I'd say pretty good," Tony said. "The question is, who's he gonna be when we do defrost him?"

"The data from the vault suggests that the equipment he was found with was intended to suppress his original personality," JARVIS said. "It is likely that, the longer he is allowed to function in the world without being 'reset', the more of his original personality should emerge."

"How sure are you about that, JARVIS?" Clint asked.

"As certain as I can be without having witnessed the process firsthand," JARVIS said. "There was some video stored on the computer; I have viewed the footage, and can speculate based on that information. Much of it seemed to be early in the process, so there is a great deal of footage of him fighting the effects of the chair. Over time, they were able to extend the life of the memory adjustments, which suggests that long-term exposure to the chair has a cumulative effect."

"That sounds horrible," Steve said. He wandered over to the chamber peering through the window at the man inside. His heart stuttered in his chest. "Jesus, that's—"

"What is it, Steve?" Clint said. 

Steve looked at the other man, not even aware of when he'd crossed the room. His heart was hammering in his chest, but his mind was blank. He couldn't—it was impossible, and yet he was right there, only the chamber door instead of seventy years separating them.

"Bucky," he said hoarsely, turning back to the man in the chamber. "This man—the Winter Soldier—his name's Bucky. James Buchanan Barnes. He—we grew up together. We lost him, in the war. But he's… how is he not dead?"

"Fuck," Clint said. "Are you—no, of course you're sure. He was—he's your best friend. Of course you're sure."

"Well, that certainly changes things," Tony said. "J, spin up the data. I'm gonna need to run through it all with a fine-toothed comb. Let's not get anything wrong by guessing. Cap's best friend deserves nothing less."

"Of course, Sir," JARVIS said. "The data will be waiting for you in your lab."

"I'll come with," Banner said. "I'd like a closer look at the bio-data they've captured. Cryogenic freezing is supposed to be impossible."

"Clearly not," Clint said. 

Tony patted Steve on the shoulder. "We're gonna figure this out, Cap. My word on that."

"Thanks," Steve said, but even he could hear the faint tremor in his voice.

Tony and Dr. Banner left almost immediately, after one more stop to check the monitoring equipment. Medical personnel from the infirmary Tony had staffed had replaced the Retrieval Team, so the noise level had gone down, but the activity level hadn't changed. They were still moving around, making sure everything was set up correctly and reading as it should.

Steve felt Natasha sidle up on his other side. "You called him James."

"Yes, that was his given name," Steve said. "Everyone used to call him Bucky."

"Yasha is Russian for James," she said quietly.

"There's no way you could have known, Tash," Clint said quietly. "Don't beat yourself up over something you couldn't have changed, even if you had known."

Natasha took a deep breath, then let it out. Steve appreciated that she felt helpless, but they all did. Until Tony figured out what had been done to his friend, they were all in the same boat.

"I think I know someone who can help," Clint said. 

"You think he would?" Natasha said, tipping her head to peer around Steve.

"Can't hurt to ask, right?" Clint said. 

"Agreed," Natasha said.

"You gonna be okay, Cap?" Clint asked.

"I'll be fine," Steve said. "Everyone's doing what they can to help. That's all I can ask."

Clint patted him on the shoulder. "I'll be back as soon as I can."

Clint nodded at Natasha, then headed out of the room. 

Steve turned to watch Clint go; Sam was just entering, the two men exchanging quiet words as they passed.

"How you doing?" Sam asked as he joined them in front of the chamber. "Banner told me what happened."

Steve took a deep breath. "I hate what's been done to him, but getting him back…"

"You've got him back physically," Sam said gently, "but he may not be the same man you remember. Just, try to remember that he's been through a lot."

"Bucky was always there for me, growing up," Steve said. "We used to say… 'to the end of the line'. That we'd be with each other no matter what. I'm not going back on that now, just because he might not be the same. My best friend is still in there somewhere. It's my job to stand beside him and help him find that person again."

"You know you don't have to do this alone, right?"

Steve looked at Sam. "You don't owe me anything."

"I kind of do, but we can agree to disagree," Sam said. "Besides, you're growing on me, you and your superhero club. What can I say?"

"Thanks," Steve said. He reached out and squeezed Sam's shoulder. "That means a lot."

~o~

Two days later, Stark had declared them ready to defrost their guest. Maria wasn't sure that was a good idea, given that they knew very little about what had been done to him to create the Winter Soldier, let alone whether or not there were any fail-safes in his programming.

Natasha had disappeared late on the first day, and had come back with an entire file on the Winter Soldier. Maria hadn't asked where she'd gotten the data; she really didn't want to know who Natasha had threatened or stolen from. 

"You really think they'll be able to wake him up?" Steve asked her. 

They were standing on the observation deck above Hulk's Lounge; Stark had built it so that Banner would never have to be unsupervised in the Lounge if he didn't want to be. By some unspoken agreement, someone from their group had been in the room, watching Barnes since they'd brought him in.

Maria shrugged. "Who knows? JARVIS' analysis paints a pretty awful picture of what they put him through to turn him into the Winter Soldier. The real question is, what's he going to be like when he wakes up? If they wipe his memory every time they return him to the ice, it's likely he'll wake up and not know who any of us are, you included."

"We'll deal," Steve said, letting out a heavy breath. "I'm not running away from him. He's my friend; I need to be there for him the way he's always been there for me."

"I understand that, Steve, believe me," she said, turning to him. Her loyalty to her fellow Olympians was bone-deep and immovable. "Just don't expect him to be your old friend anymore. And even if Clint's friend can help, Barnes may never quite be the same man you remember."

"I know," he said. "I'm still not running."

Maria smiled faintly. "I hope he knows how lucky he is to have a friend as loyal as you."

"He'd do the same for me, if it was me in that room," Steve said. He turned his own smile on her. "I'd do that and more for you. And not only because of the blood of the Titans we share."

"Good to know," she murmured, hating the faint blush stealing over her cheeks.

Clint walked in to the observation room, a tall man with hair the color of his lab coat following behind.

"Steve, Maria, meet Dr. John McIntyre," Clint said.

The Doctor smiled at both of them, a smile filled with life and joy. Maria could feel the tug behind her navel that she always felt when in the presence of another Olympian. Her face registered the surprise she could feel rippling through her. She glanced at Clint, who looked a lot like the cat that got the cream.

"Maria," McIntyre said, reaching out to shake her hand. "Or should I say, the lovely Athena. Even in the Cloak, your beauty still has no rival."

"And you're still the same flatterer you always were, Old Man," she said, shaking her head even as a full-blown smile cracked her face for the first time in far too long.

"Only for you, my dear," he said as he leaned in and dropped a sweet peck on her cheek. Before she could say anything more, he turned to Steve. "And you must be Captain Rogers. I would apologize for Hera's interference, but I suspect you've heard enough apologies from our kind. So, instead I'll just say 'nice to meet you'."

Steve took his outstretched hand. "Thank you, sir. I'm—are you an Olympian?"

"Among my people, I'm known as Asclepius," McIntyre said. "Although, that knowledge isn't widely known. I prefer to keep it quiet, you see. Less hassle."

"Either you're a delusional old man, or somebody's been keeping secrets. Again."

Everyone turned to find Stark and Banner standing in the doorway to the observation room, both men looking surprised and a bit curious.

"Ah, Anthony, my boy," McIntyre said. "Close your mouth before the flies start making a home. And you've been ducking me, again. I feel like maybe I should be offended, except I know how much you hate doctors. Not that I take that sort of thing seriously, mind."

"You're an Olympian?" Stark said as he crossed the room. "How did I not notice I was surrounded by Olympians? JARVIS, shouldn't you have some sort of subroutine for this?"

"I am afraid that you have not yet successfully programmed a detector for gods in human guise," JARVIS said.

"Right," Stark said. "Okay, so it turns out that my personal physician from about age five is an Olympian. I can work with that. What brings you here?"

McIntyre turned from Stark, holding out a hand to Banner. "He's always had terrible manners. I'm John McIntyre, MD, PhD, G.O.D."

Banner broke into a chuckle. "Bruce Banner, PhD, PhD, demi-G.O.D. Nice to meet you."

"Ooooh," McIntyre said. "Hera's been busy. That makes, what, three of you now?"

"Four," Maria said. "She took one of my best friends recently. Turned him into a demi-god as well."

"That woman," McIntyre said, shaking his head. "I've chastised Zeus many times over her actions. He can't seem to control her, and shows no interest in making another attempt."

"Father's too busy dipping his donut in everyone else's coffee," Clint said. "Hera takes advantage, because she knows he won't stop her, even when he does find out."

"Alright, now that we've got old home week out of the way, care to tell me what you're doing here?" Stark asked.

"Young Hermes—Clint, here—thought I might be able to help with your friend," McIntyre said. He walked over to the windows, looking down at the hive of activity surrounding Barnes and the chamber. "Have you worked out how to revive him from the cryo freeze?"

"We found the user manual," Stark said as he joined McIntyre. "We're prepping for the defrost process now. The only thing we can't predict is what his mind's going to be like when he wakes up. Seems they'd wipe him blank before they put him in cold storage, so it's entirely possible he'll wake up and just wait for instructions."

"Or he could have some trigger built in just in case he's revived in unfamiliar surroundings," Banner said as he joined them. "We just don't know."

"Well, I can help with that part, which is—I'm assuming—why I was brought in," McIntyre said. 

"Do tell," Stark said. He leaned a shoulder against the glass, crossing his arms over his chest.

McIntyre tucked his hands in his pockets. "I'm the god of, among other things, medicine. My father gave me many abilities, but the one that's relevant here is my ability to look into a soul and find… the pain-points, for lack of a better term. Now, I'm guessing that the programming they've installed in your friend down there is causing some pain. I should be able to find it and remove it. Theoretically, anyway. I've never had to deal with this type of thing, but I'm willing to try."

"What, some sort of telepathy?" Stark asked. "I'm not sure I believe in that."

"And yet, you're surrounded by gods, Anthony," McIntyre said. Maria snorted; Asclepius was never known to be subtle. Good to know some things hadn't changed in all his years on Earth. 

Stark's mouth opened and closed a couple of times before his shoulders slumped. "Yeah, I got nothing."

McIntyre laughed as he patted Stark on the shoulder. "Not to worry, young man. It isn't telepathy. At least, not in the way you're thinking. I'll be using the essence of Olympus herself, that which exists within me, to help your friend."

"You can do that?" Steve asked. "Even in human form?"

"Yes," McIntyre said as he turned to Steve. "The Cloak I wear is not a vessel, like the others. It's more of a… veil. An illusion, if you will. It's allowed me to remain on Earth for a very long time."

"How long is a long time?" Steve asked.

"Would it surprise you to know that I've been subtly guiding the development of human medical practices for a hundred years or more?"

"Wait, I thought Zeus had forbidden the Olympians from returning to Earth," Stark said.

McIntyre snorted. "Zeus is far too busy chasing every nymph and naiad in his orbit to care what the rest of us do. Besides, my father sent me here to watch over the humans. Frankly, they're a helluva lot more interesting than watching Olympians eat and drink themselves into oblivion every day."

"You keep saying 'my father' like you're not talking about Zeus," Banner said.

"That's because his father is Apollo," Natasha said from the doorway. She turned a smile on McIntyre. "Nephew. How goes life among the humans?"

"Ah, Artemis," McIntyre said. He crossed the room and folded her into a hug. "They're far more interesting than Zeus ever gave them credit for. Such a zest for life; they burn so brightly in the short time they live. How could I not be charmed?"

Natasha laughed. "So like your father." She looked up at her nephew. "Are you willing to help us?"

"Of course, my dear," McIntyre said. "Your friend will be well. We'll all see to it." He turned to Stark. "Now, take me downstairs and show me what you're getting ready to do. I want to understand the whole procedure before I make any plans."

"Right this way, Doc," Stark said. 

Banner followed Stark out of the room, he and McIntyre huddled together, talking a mile a minute.

"Anyone else think it might have been a mistake to introduce those guys?" Clint asked.

Steve snorted. "I get the feeling McIntyre would have shown up here sooner or later. He seems like the type to follow a mystery to its logical conclusion."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Clint muttered.

"I suppose we should go supervise," Maria said. "Just in case."

They each looked at the others, then as one headed for the door and the makeshift lab downstairs. Maria trusted Asclepius; he was a medical genius whether in the form of a god or a man, but Stark could be a handful if left unsupervised. He'd treat waking up Barnes like an experiment, which could have far-reaching consequences if they weren't careful.

And for as much as she looked forward to one day returning to Olympus, she still had a lot to do on Earth, so getting caught in one of Stark's runaway experiments wasn't in the cards today.

~o~

"Alright, boys and girls, here we go," Stark said.

They'd spent another two days going over every possible angle of the process, sometimes talking late into the night. After the first few hours, Maria had taken herself off to the Avengers' command center to join Phil as he went through all the data they'd harvested over the course of their operations.

Steve wasn't able to offer much help to either project, but something was compelling him to remain in the Lounge with Bucky and the team working on reviving him. He wasn't doing much, just holding up a wall and watching, but he felt better being there.

Clint and Natasha had become his ever-present shadows, both of them as reluctant as he was to leave. Stark had just shrugged when they'd taken up a position out of the way, then proceeded to ignore them as he, Banner and McIntyre formed a plan for how to wake Bucky.

They had him laid out on a hospital bed, several hoses running between him and tanks of warm blood plasma. The plan was to cycle the warm liquids through his body, slowly raising his temperature as they went. Steve had seen a great deal of what modern medicine had to offer in the year-plus that he'd been awake, but this seemed like something straight out of the Saturday serials he and Bucky used to watch at the movie theater when they were young.

McIntyre had taken a position at the head of the bed, his hands gently cupping Bucky's head, eyes closed and his own head tilted down as he concentrated. He'd said that he wanted to be connected to Bucky from the beginning, so that he could detect any anomalies before they became an issue. 

"Alright, temperature is rising," Banner said. "Are you detecting any brain activity?"

"Nothing yet," McIntyre said. "Wait… I'm starting to sense… what the fuck?"

Steve lurched forward as McIntyre frowned. "What is it?"

Stark was rushing between machines, watching the readouts to make sure Bucky's temperature was rising slowly, like they'd planned. Banner was watching the monitor with Bucky's life signs on it. The lines had started to jump in time to his heart, still with large gaps but getting steadier by the minute.

Bucky's eyes popped open, but he remained still on the bed. After a few seconds, he started thrashing around, fighting McIntyre and the restraints that Natasha had insisted on installing.

"Orion!" McIntyre shouted. "Be still. We mean you no harm."

Natasha rushed to the foot of the bed, her slim hand gripping Bucky's ankle, stilling the thrashing limb.

"Orion, listed to me," she said, her voice raised but not shouting as McIntyre had done. "You know me. You're safe here. Stop resisting. You're safe!"

"What—"

"Orion," Clint said, stepping up beside Steve, "was Nat's—Artemis'—lover. Zeus sent him to the stars, or so he said. Guess not."

McIntyre—Asclepius—began to glow, the golden hue spreading down from his hands through Bucky. He watched as his friend relaxed by degrees, until he'd slumped down in the bed, sweaty and breathing slowly, but no longer fighting them.

"What happened?" Steve asked.

McIntyre stepped back, bracing his hands on the head of the bed as he took a few steadying breaths. When he looked up, his expression was full of grim determination.

"Zeus, in all his infinite wisdom, attempted to force a Giant to inhabit the Cloak," he said, his words clipped in anger. "It was a poor fit, and made him weak and vulnerable."

"The files I brought back suggested that Zola tried to make Barnes into a Super Soldier, the same way Erskine had done with Steve," Natasha said.

"And that wouldn't have helped matters," McIntyre said. "But it was what the Russians did that nearly broke him."

"Etot grebanyy ublyodok," Natasha said.

"I assume you're referring to Father and not the Russians," Clint said. "Because he's the bastard that sent Orion here. Just when you think he can't get any worse, he surprises you. And not in a good way."

"Were you able to help him?" Steve asked.

"I was able to break through the conditioning," McIntyre said. "I had to block a lot of his memory from the last fifty years, but honestly, there's not that much. They didn't revive him that often; I get the sense he was a weapon of last resort."

"Well, that's something anyway," Clint said. "Now what?"

"He'll sleep for a while," McIntyre said. "But it'll be a restorative sleep. When he wakes up, he's going to be tired and sore. And probably confused."

"What did you mean when you said that the Cloak was a poor fit?" Steve asked. He didn't like the implications that his friend—his oldest friend—had been an Olympian all his life and neither of them had known it.

"Orion is a Giant," Natasha said. She hadn't taken her eyes off him, her expression like that of a starving woman seeing a table full of food for the first time in weeks.

"Not the way you're thinking," Clint said to Steve. "Giants aren't called that because of their size. They're… beings of great skill and cunning. Orion was a huntsman. He and Artemis were lovers. They used to hunt together, testing each other's skills with various big game. Orion was seriously injured on one of their hunts; he wasn't expected to survive, so Father promised to find him a place, somewhere that she'd always know he was safe."

"The constellation Orion," Steve said. "That's the legend of how it was created. I assume you didn't know he'd been sent to Earth instead."

"No, we didn't," Clint said, frowning. "He's not an Olympian, so the Cloak would have been uncomfortable for him. Can he remain in the Cloak?"

McIntyre shrugged. "He's… adjusted to it, so I think it should be fine. But we'll want to monitor him for the foreseeable future, just to be sure."

"Well, the defrosting process worked as advertised," Stark said as he turned around, arms crossed over his chest. The arc reactor glowed faintly under his shirt. "He's not suffering any ill effects from the cryo process, which is, frankly, a miracle. I didn't even know anyone had solved this shit. I'm gonna get into my files and see if I can figure out what I missed, because this is huge, and somebody should have been crowing about it long before now."

"From a medical standpoint, he's recovering well," Banner said. "His vitals are stable, and he's resting. If he has any issues, we'll be here to catch them."

"Alright," Steve said. He glanced at Natasha, who hadn't moved a muscle since it became clear who was in the bed. "We'll grab something to eat and come back later for an update."

"I'm not leaving," Natasha said.

Steve looked at Clint, who just shrugged. Neither of them wanted to fight her, because Steve knew they'd both lose—the argument or the physical fight that would ensue—so they just let her be.

"I'll keep an eye on her," McIntyre said. "And we'll have JARVIS call if there's any change."

"Thanks, Doc," Steve said. 

He turned to go, nodding at Natasha as he did. Clint stepped up beside her and squeezed her hand before following Steve out.

~o~

Hours later, Steve found Clint in the observation room, watching the makeshift medical suite below. Natasha was still in the room, sitting beside Bucky's bed, clutching his hand and murmuring softly to him 

It was odd to Steve, to see her so attached to his oldest friend. He was still having trouble reconciling the idea that Bucky was in fact Orion. He'd never even been a little bit suspicious that his friend wasn't exactly who he'd always believed him to be. Not that Steve would have even had a single clue that this was the secret his friend was hiding. He felt betrayed, in an odd way, but also felt like he had no right to feel that way.

It was confusing as fuck, and he didn't like it.

"You doing okay, there, Cap?" Clint asked.

"I'm—" He paused, rubbing his forehead. Heaving a sigh, he walked to the window, leaning a shoulder against it in a mirror of Clint's pose. "I feel like I've been lied to all my life. My best friend is Orion, and I've been turned into a demi-god. I'm surrounded by Olympians that I didn't even know where Olympians. But I'm not sure I have any right to feel betrayed, because you're all entitled to keep your secrets."

"I'm sorry," Clint said. "I know it's not easy, and that we weren't helping by not telling you, especially about yourself. You had a right to that information, if nothing else."

Steve waved him off. "I'll get over it. I suspect that Zeus is probably the one person in all this who should be blamed, but he's not here. Convenient, really. He makes a mess, and then leaves us to clean it up."

"Par for the fucking course with him," Clint said. "Still, you got caught up in the mess that we made, and for that I really am sorry."

"I'm at least part Olympian," Steve said, taking a deep breath. "I might not have started this mess, but I have an obligation to see it through. We're a team now. I'm not going to abandon you just because I got my feelings hurt. I'll get over it."

"We're family now," Clint said. "Family takes care of each other."

"Speaking of, how are things with you and Agent Coulson?"

Clint honest-to-god blushed. "Things are good. He's still adjusting to being—" he waved a hand at Steve, wordlessly indicating the whole demi-god thing "—but if there's one thing I know about Coulson, it's that he's not gonna stay sidelined forever. Once he wraps his brain around it, he's gonna be unstoppable."

"And you?" Steve asked, watching Clint closely. "How are you adjusting to Coulson? Are you working out your… personal stuff?"

"'Personal stuff'?" Clint asked, huffing out a chuckle. "Yeah, I guess that's as good a way to explain it as anything." He paused. "We're good. We've worked together for a long time, so transitioning from colleagues to… something more, well… it's a work in progress, but it's good. We're good. Happy, I think, for the first time in a long time."

"I'm glad," Steve said. "That sort of thing was kept out of the public eye when I was younger. It was… taboo, for all intents and purposes. I've never much cared who a person loves, as long as they take care of each other. I mean, you love a person—all of them, good, bad and everything else."

"That's pretty enlightened for a relic from the forties," Clint said.

"I'd be outraged by that, but I can't argue," Steve said ruefully. "I'm catching up, but there's so much. It's just going to take time."

"What about you and Maria?" Clint asked. "How's it going with the legendary Ice Queen?"

"Maria is… amazing," Steve said. "She's patient with me, in a way I didn't realize I needed. She's smart, funny, talented. Every day with her is a gift, and I try to treat it as such."

"You old romantic, you," Clint said, smiling. "I'm glad you two are connecting. She's always been special. It's good that someone else can see it. Just… treat her well. I'd hate to have to hurt you if you don't."

"You could try," Steve said, giving a devilish grin. He sobered, looking Clint in the eye. "I have no intentions of hurting her. You have my word."

"Good," Clint said. "Now what do you say we go find Natasha something to eat? She won't eat unless someone puts food in front of her."

"Good idea," Steve said. "I'd hate for her to pass out. One mythical being at a time in medical is more than enough."

~o~


	7. Chapter 7

~o~

"Hey, you're awake," Steve said as he entered Bucky's room.

Bucky smiled at him. "Yeah, been awake for a while. Had some lunch, watched part of a ball game. Fucking Mets. I can't believe they still suck."

They'd moved him from the Lounge to a room in the infirmary after the first time Bucky woke up, nearly a week after they'd found him. He'd been disoriented, but McIntyre had proclaimed him stable, and Banner had concurred, so they'd seen no reason to keep him locked up. JARVIS was keeping an eye on him, and he was hooked up to multiple medical monitors, so they'd know if anything was amiss. Steve still couldn't breathe easy, but that was driven more by his desire to see his friend hale and whole.

"Some things never change," Steve said with a chuckle. He well remembered waking up in 2012 to the sounds of a ball game he remembered attending. The Yankees, which just proved that someone at SHIELD had good taste. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah, I think so," Bucky said, shrugging as Steve took a seat. "Five fingers, ten toes. Not what I fell asleep with, but I figure I'll get used to it. Being alive is kind of a novelty, though."

"I know what you mean," Steve said. "When I went into the ice, I thought I was going to die. But at least I was going to die knowing we'd won the war. Waking up to find out that we'd fought in a dozen more wars—both large and small—was... disappointing."

"JARVIS has been feeding me world history in small doses," Bucky said in a small voice. "I—it's hard, you know? Knowing that I missed so much. Well, I mean, I don't remember it, even if I was awake for part of it."

Steve winced. It hadn't been his preference to tell Bucky how he'd lost the seventy years he was missing, but he understood Tony's insistence on telling him. Bucky may not remember being the Winter Soldier, but he was still entitled to know about what had been done to him. He'd find out eventually, whether Steve liked it or not, so better to be honest with him up front instead of lying about it and risk Bucky hating him for it.

"You don't... You don't remember any of it?" Steve asked. 

"Not much," Bucky said. "I mean, I remember bits and pieces, but most of it is... in shadows. Just out of reach. And knowing the little bit I do know, I'm not really interested in chasing those memories. It's enough to know I did some awful things. I don't need the details."

"It wasn't really you, you know that, right?" Steve asked. "It was the programming. According to Dr. McIntyre, it went pretty deep and you'd have had almost no chance to fight it off."

"I may not have been in control, but it was still my body they were using," Bucky said. "It's my face in the files. My fingerprints, such as they are, all over those crimes. It's gonna take a long time for me to come to terms with that."

"I might know someone who can help," Steve said, thinking of Clint Barton and the mind control he experienced at Loki's hand. "Have you met Clint yet?"

"He's the archer guy, right?" Bucky asked. "I met him yesterday, I think. He and Natasha stopped by. She's an odd one, you know? She keeps looking at me like she knows me or something."

"She does," Steve said. He cocked his head, looking at Bucky for a moment. "Tell me something. Do you ever think you should be somebody else? Like you're living a life that's not really yours?"

"That's a crazy question," Bucky said, shaking his head. "Are you being serious?"

"I'm not playing with you, Buck," Steve said. "I just need to know if you've ever felt like a stranger in your own life."

"I—" Bucky started to shake his head, but he stopped, his mouth clicking shut. He let out a breath through his nose, his shoulders slumping ever so slightly. "When I was younger, I used to have these... dreams. Where I was hunting these crazy animals. With a bow and arrow, of all fucking things. Or a spear. I had this awesome sword, and armor and everything. And sometimes there was this woman. Fiery red hair and a disposition to match. She was—we were lovers, I think. But it was all just a crazy dream. A really detailed, crazy dream."

"What would you say if I told you it wasn't a dream," Steve said quietly. "And that Natasha is the woman in your dreams."

"No fucking way," Bucky said. "That's impossible. I was born in Brooklyn, not Ancient Greece. Plus, I've never used a bow and arrow in my life."

"Do me a favor," Steve said. McIntyre had told him how to open up Bucky's memories; he was about to find out if the man was right.

"Okay, what?" Bucky asked.

"Close your eyes," Steve said. Bucky looked at him like he'd lost the thread, but Steve just smiled. "Trust me. Close your eyes and picture the dream. Picture the woman. Tell me who you see."

Bucky side-eyed him, but did as requested. "Okay, I'm looking at her. She's beautiful. Red hair, skin like porcelain. She carries a sword and a bow and arrow, like me. Armor—but not like mine. It's... finer quality. Shiny, like it's been polished by the sun. And she moves like a cat, power and grace and—holy fuck, it's her!"

Bucky's eyes popped open, flying to meet Steve's. "It's her! Natasha is the woman in my dreams! But how's that possible? Who is she to me?"

"Her name is Artemis, Bucky," Steve said. "She was your lover."

"She was Orion's lover," Bucky said automatically. Surprise registered on his face as soon as the words were out. "She was Orion's lover, and I was Orion. Wasn't I?"

"Yes, you were," Steve said, smiling. "You are. Orion, in the Cloak of humanity."

Bucky wrinkled his nose. "That sounds unpleasant."

Steve outright laughed. "According to Doc McIntyre, as a Giant, the Cloak would be uncomfortable for you to wear, but you seem to have adjusted, so he's not concerned."

"You're not kidding me with this, are you?" Bucky asked. "I'm really Orion. I mean, it resonates with me, moreso than being James Buchanan Barnes, actually. Which is fucking weird, because that's who I've been all my life. Well, most of it anyway."

"According to the Doc, the longer you're awake, the more of yourself you'll remember," Steve said. "So being Bucky Barnes probably won't feel strange after a while. As for being Orion, as I understand it, at some point, everyone who wears the Cloak comes to a point where they just know who they are. It'll probably feel strange for a while when you think about it, but I'm told it'll get easier."

"Who have you been talking to about this?" Bucky asked.

"There are several Olympians living on Earth at the moment," Steve said. "Hermes, Artemis, Hades and Athena. They've come here to find Ares and return him to Olympus."

"Holy fuck," Bucky said. "That sounds like the opening line to a really bad joke."

"Yeah, I had the same reaction," Steve said. "But it's no joke. There are also demi-gods among us."

"Wait, there are demi-gods in modern times?" Bucky asked.

"Hera created several," Steve said. "Schmidt was one."

"Well that fucking figures," Bucky said. "That man was batshit."

"He was," Steve said, chuckling. "But not because Hera made him a demi-god. She made Bruce Banner one, too. Well, she intended to make him one, anyway. Ares got involved, and the whole thing went sideways."

"I heard about Banner," Bucky said. "JARVIS gave me bios for all the Avengers. You joined a superhero club, Stevie. You're one of the cool kids now!"

"Shut it, you," Steve said, but he was grinning as he said it. It was so good to banter with his best friend again; he was shamelessly enjoying it. He sobered when he realized he'd have to tell Bucky about himself. "She made me a demi-god, too. And our handler, Phil Coulson."

"Wait, you're a demi-god?" Bucky asked, leaning his head back on his pillows. "Jesus, Steve."

"It's okay, Buck," Steve said gently. "I'm okay with it. I wasn't at first, but I've come to realize that it's given me the chance to fight the way I always wanted to. I can't wish it gone, and I wouldn't even if I could."

Bucky took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. When he looked at Steve again, there was sorrow in his eyes. "So much has changed. I'm not sure I know where I belong now. And without an arm... what good will I be?"

"You belong right here, with me," Steve said firmly. "I might not know a lot more than you do about this new world we're living in, but I do know that. Plus, Stark tells me that he's working on a replacement for your old arm. A much improved, Stark Industries model. Which means it'll probably make toast and wash your car, but you'll be able to do whatever you want with it. And I promise, when you figure out what you're going to do, I'll be right there with you."

Tony had, in fact, given Steve a preview of Bucky's new arm. He'd taken the old one to study, and found some things in it that made him concerned about just giving it back to Bucky. Something about the connection between Bucky and the arm corrupting his friend and undoing all the work they'd done to fix his mind. Steve was all in favor of keeping his friend free of outside influences, so he'd left Tony to his project.

Bucky chuckled. "Okay, okay. Jesus. You and that damned optimistic streak."

There was a knock on the door, and then Clint poked his head inside. "Am I interrupting?"

"Come on in, Clint," Steve said, waving him in. "Bucky and I were just talking about his new arm."

"Oh that thing's a fucking nightmare," Clint said, laughing. "Last I saw, Stark was trying to build JARVIS into it."

"I have managed to dissuade Sir from installing a cellular modem in the arm," JARVIS said. "But I did encourage him to provide you with a Stark Industries mobile phone as he has the rest of the Avengers. Each of those has a direct connection to me, should you have need of it."

"Thanks, JARVIS," Bucky said. He looked relieved; Steve made a note to thank him later.

"So, how you feeling today?" Clint asked Bucky.

"You mean, apart from realizing that I'm really Orion?" Bucky asked. "Just peachy. Really."

Clint winced. "Yeah, that moment sucks large. Can't say I blame you for being pissy."

"I thought maybe you could share some insights with him, after your experiences with Loki," Steve said.

"You don't have to," Bucky said when they both noticed Clint's face freeze.

"No, it's fine," Clint said. He took a deep breath. "Well, not fine, but I'm willing to do it. I think maybe I'm the only person besides Nat that could understand what you've been through."

"I—thanks," Bucky said.

"I'll leave you two to talk," Steve said. "I need to check on Stark and see where he's at with the data we downloaded on our last missions."

"You don't have to go," Clint said. "I don't mind you listening in."

"I think it'll be easier for both of you if I'm not here," Steve said, "but thanks. I'll check in later."

"Hey, Steve," Bucky said. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Steve said. "To the end of the line. Right?"

"To the end of the line," Bucky repeated.

Steve nodded. "See you later."

~o~

"Stark, what have you got?" Steve asked as he entered Tony's lab. 

He found the man standing in front of one of his holographic displays, looking at documents as they cycled past. He wasn't sure Tony had even heard him enter, much less that he was paying any attention to the information as it sailed by.

Steve laid a hand on Tony's shoulder when he got no response. Tony merely turned and looked at him, one eyebrow raised. Steve shrugged. "You seemed like you were a million miles away. Care to share?"

"About an hour ago, if you'd done that, I'd have probably tried to rip your arm out of its socket," Tony said conversationally. "JARVIS—who is far more reasonable than I'll ever be, let's be clear—talked me down."

"Talked you down from what?" Steve asked.

"This," Tony said, waving at the holographs. "I was looking through the data we recovered from Virginia. Seems like your pal was a busy boy."

Steve stepped closer to the display and focused on the document that JARVIS had brought to the front. He skimmed it, then went back and read it in detail. His blood ran cold. He turned around and stared at Tony.

"I—you have to know he had no idea," Steve said. "They were just a target, and he had about as much free will as a turnip."

"I know that," Tony snapped. He took a deep breath. "The Winter Soldier killed my parents. He was assigned to kill my parents. Probably by Pierce, if we're being honest."

"Jesus, Tony," Steve said. He rubbed his hands over his face. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry."

"You don't have anything to apologize for," Tony said quietly. "And neither does he, really. Like I said, an hour ago, I'd have killed him myself. But the truth is, he's as much a victim in all this as my parents were."

"Fuck," Steve said. He crossed his arms and leaned back on the console. "How many more surprises are we in for? How much more death and destruction did Ares deal out on Earth?"

"How much time have you got?" Tony asked. He smirked. "Ares has been a very bad boy, and once he got his hands on the perfect little soldier, he started slicing and dicing. I'm still going through all the data, but it looks like he's been selectively destabilizing companies and governments all over the world."

"To what end?" Steve asked.

"Don't know yet," Tony said. "JARVIS is still analyzing the data, looking for patterns. What I do know is that he's been profiting off all of this, either through investments, or through more business for SHIELD."

Steve snorted. "He's a god, Tony. He doesn't need the money. More power would be my guess. The ability to control… everything, ultimately. That speaks to his vanity and his need to dominate. Not that we humans would cooperate."

"Ares doesn't understand the human psyche, but he had help," Tony said. He waved his hand and more documents appeared. "He had a rudimentary AI stored in that data farm at Camp Lehigh. Based on Armin Zola's mind, which honestly freaked me the fuck out."

"Wait, are you saying that Zola was in that computer?" Steve asked, aghast at the possibilities. "Like JARVIS?"

"I'm sure that's what he intended," Tony said. "Not that it worked quite the way he expected. The human brain is too complex to replicate using a computer program. JARVIS is a thousand times more complex. Zola would have needed a helluva lot more compute power to turn his brain into an AI. But what he did create was something like a difference engine."

"I've heard of that," Steve said. "The first attempts at building a computer, right?"

"You never cease to surprise me, Cap," Tony said, smiling at Steve. "To answer your question, yes, it was a rudimentary computer. Basically, a difference engine is designed to take a massive number of variables and compute the outcome based on those variables. But, it can only compute based on the variables that are input into the machine; it's not dynamic, so if you need to add a variable—or two or ten—you have to input them and then start the calculation again."

"And you think Pierce was using Zola—or some approximation of him—to calculate… what, exactly?"

Tony shrugged. "Best guess? What moves would have the most impact, both in the short term and over a long period of time. Remember, he's playing the long game, here. He could afford to be patient because no one was paying attention, by design."

"Pardon me, Sir, but you appear to have a visitor," JARVIS said.

"A visitor?" Steve asked. A video image popped up on the screen behind Steve. He turned around to look at the screen. "Do we know who it is?"

"Facial recognition identified him as Jasper Sitwell," JARVIS said.

"Wasn't he on the list?" Steve asked. "The Fifth Column?"

"Yes, he was," Tony said. "Any idea what he wants, J?"

"He has only stated that he requires a meeting with you, Sir," JARVIS said.

"Have Coulson meet us in the command center," Tony said. "And then bring our visitor to us."

"Of course, Sir," JARVIS said.

"Good news or bad news?" Steve asked as they headed for the elevator and the Avengers' floor.

"I'd like to say good news, but our luck isn't that good," Tony said.

Steve snorted. They got off the elevator to find Coulson and Maria waiting for them.

"JARVIS said Sitwell is in the building?" Coulson asked. "Any idea what he wants?"

"We're about to find out," Tony said. 

The elevator door opened, revealing Agent Sitwell. He looked worried until he spotted Coulson standing with his arms crossed in the middle of the room. 

"Oh, thank god," Sitwell said. He stepped into the room and glanced around, his eyes landing briefly on Tony and Steve before resting on Maria. "You guys aren't exactly easy to find these days."

If Coulson or Maria were bothered by that, neither of them showed it.

"Jasper," Coulson said.

"Why were you looking for us?" Maria asked.

"I—um," he said, glancing over at Tony, who was standing next to Steve.

Tony grinned and waved. Sitwell's eyes bugged out while Steve rolled his.

"Anything you have to say can be said in front of them," Coulson said.

"Okay. Okay," Sitwell said. He took a deep breath. "A kill order was just issued for Fury."

"A kill order?" Maria asked. "Who issued it?"

Sitwell winced. "Pierce. It's not the first time he's done it, but I wasn't at HQ when the last one came down, or I'd have come sooner."

"He means he missed when Pierce ordered you killed," Tony said to Steve, sotto voce.

Coulson glanced at Tony, then refocused on Sitwell. "And how did you get this information?"

"I—" He glanced at Tony and Steve, then looked back at Coulson, his shoulders slumping. "There's a secret organization within SHIELD. Pierce calls it… Hydra."

"Are you—is he kidding?" Steve asked, turning to Tony.

"Probably not," Tony said. "You're not, right? Kidding, I mean. You're serious."

"As a heart attack," Sitwell said. "I was recruited by Hydra not long after I joined SHIELD. They were going to change the world, bring order to the chaos. I was young and stupid. I thought we'd be making the world a better place, but all we've done is sow division and deceit. I can't—I won't keep doing this. I respect Fury. I'm not going to stand by and watch these people kill a good man."

"JARVIS, is he telling the truth?" Coulson asked.

"Yes, Agent Coulson," JARVIS said. "His heart rate and breathing, while elevated due to stress, are within norms for a man his age and fitness level. I detected no spikes to indicate he is being untruthful."

"Which doesn't mean he's not lying, just that he doesn't appear to be lying," Tony said darkly.

"I promise you, Phil, if I'd known what would happen, I'd have bailed on them long ago," Sitwell said, throwing Tony a worried glance.

"Why didn't you come to us?" Maria asked. "We'd have helped you however we could."

Sitwell shook his head. "Pierce is too good. He keeps track of all his operatives. One wrong move and you're toast, and I don't mean early retirement."

"Well, that sounds familiar," Tony muttered. "Seems like Ares has been busy. The question is, did he just stumble on something he could use, or did he reform Hydra to use for whatever his end-game is."

"He's always had this idea that the world would be a better place if we could just… get rid of the bad actors," Sitwell said. "That we could achieve peace and stability worldwide if we strategically manipulate events and people. Push certain countries in certain directions, take out certain individuals to ensure certain events take place. Or not. Eliminate the criminal element as much as possible, and people stop being afraid of going out their own front door."

"That sounds nothing like the god of war," Tony said. 

"But it makes sense," Maria said. "How do you get to this Utopia he's proposing? Start a few wars, take out a few people. He's bloodthirsty; this level of manipulation would be a cakewalk for him."

"So, world domination or World War III," Tony said. 

"Pretty much," Maria said. "The more chaos he can sow, the happier he'll be."

"And what happens if he achieves this mythical Utopia?" Steve asked. "What does the god of war do when there's no more need for war?"

"He'll never get there," Coulson said. "Humans are messy. We'll never just… fall in line with his plans, no matter how covert he's being. Criminals will always find a way to commit crimes—at the state level or at the corner store. And if he's hoping to find the criminals before they commit crimes… well, that's a fool's errand. You're never going to be able to predict whether someone is prone to committing a crime or not."

"I wouldn't say that," Tony said. "Part of the mandate for Project Insight was a predictive algorithm that could identify people and areas with key risk factors for crime and conflict. If I hadn't cancelled it, he'd have had all he needed for his purposes."

"Ares could still go out and find someone with the skills to give him what he needs," Maria said. "You're not the only genius-level programmer out there."

Steve looked at Tony, then at Coulson, and finally Maria. They were all wearing equally concerned expressions.

"What do you mean, 'Ares'?" Sitwell asked.

"Oh boy," Tony said.

~o~

"Do you believe him?" Steve asked a while later.

"I have no reason not to," Phil said, though Maria could hear the wariness in his voice. "Jasper is a lot of things, but he's a good man at his core. He came to us when he realized something was very wrong. That has to count for something."

They'd sent Sitwell to a guest suite on the residential level, and had JARVIS lock him in. None of them wanted to risk Pierce finding out about his unapproved side trip to the Tower. Pierce was intolerant of betrayal, so it likely wouldn't end well for Sitwell.

They'd gathered in the lounge area of the Command Center; the room itself was all chrome and leather, intended as a relaxation space for the team. There was a huge OLED TV on one wall—because never let it be said that Stark Industries wasn't way ahead of the development curve. They'd watched movies and played video games to their hearts' content in this room since Stark had unveiled it.

Now the four of them—Steve, Stark, Phil and Maria—were sitting in the lounge, sipping on drinks and staring at each other as they contemplated this latest development. 

"Why was this a bridge too far, though?" Stark asked. "Why this and not a hundred other kill orders that probably came across his desk since he was recruited by Pierce?"

"Fury recruited Sitwell," Maria said. "A couple of years after he brought Phil on. Sitwell respects Fury, is highly loyal to him. I'm not surprised he freaked out when he realized who the kill order was for."

"Would Pierce have succeeded?" Steve asked.

Maria shook her head. "Fury's gone to ground. His last orders to me were to do what I could for SHIELD, but to take down Ares by any means necessary. I took that to mean he had no intention of returning before Ares had been dealt with."

"Given what we now know about Pierce and SHIELD, what are we going to do about it?" Steve asked. "Because I'm all for burning it down. If Sitwell is right, and Hydra has been rebuilt within SHIELD… I can't even think it. We gutted Hydra during the war. There wasn't supposed to be anything left. I—it makes what we fought and died for meaningless."

"Not meaningless, Steve," Maria said. She'd settled on one of the couches beside him, sensing his distress but not knowing how to ease his pain. She laid a hand on his neck, massaging the tense muscles, hoping her touch was soothing. "What you fought for during the war, that still exists today. You fought and died to give us freedom. Freedom we still have and cherish, even if some people aren't as grateful as they should be."

"As for SHIELD, as much as I'd like to agree with you, Steve, we can't just burn SHIELD to the ground," Phil said. He leaned forward in the chair he'd dropped into, rolling his glass of bourbon between his hands. Maria had been surprised by his drink of choice, both because he rarely drank and because he couldn't get drunk anymore, what with the whole demi-god thing going on. "It's corrupt down to its very bones, and even with JARVIS' analysis, we can't ever be sure we've gotten all the bad seeds out. But SHIELD has been protecting people from some pretty bad things for a very long time. Things that could do real harm in the world if we just shut it down. We need to think strategically about what to do with SHIELD's assets, so that they don't end up in the wrong hands."

"JARVIS has copied the entirety of SHIELD's database," Stark said. "Theoretically, I could unleash a virus on the network, destroy all the data on SHIELD's servers. Send their systems back to factory reset."

"That would keep Pierce from accessing the data we currently have," Phil said. "What do we do about the people? Most of them are compromised, but there are still a few that aren't."

"Can we circulate a black list?" Maria asked. "Put it out to all the Federal agencies in the Alphabet soup, with the name of everyone we suspect of being Hydra. They won't ever work in the government again. It's probably the best we can do, because we can't arrest them for anything; they were acting on behalf of SHIELD, so they're covered in the eyes of the law."

"That's probably for the best. I'm not sure I'd trust any of them to have my back if it came down to it, and I can't imagine anyone else would either if what's going on at SHIELD got out," Phil said. "As for the physical assets, I'm open to suggestions."

"Homeland should probably get the bulk of it," Maria said. "The Fridge might be better suited for military control, given what's there, but I'm not sure I trust those assholes."

Steve snorted. "What's there?"

"Mostly just some very dangerous technology that no one should really have access to," Maria said. "There are a few very dangerous people being held there in the short term, but there's technology in place to curtail their ability to cause damage, so maybe we turn them over to the Federal prison system once they've been neutralized."

"The technology could conceivably be turned over to DARPA," Tony said. "If you want to keep it out of private hands, but still under the control of some branch of the government, that'd be the best place. They're less asshole-ish than the rest, though that's a small margin."

Maria looked at Phil, who looked back at her. He wobbled his head back and forth. "It's got possibilities. We should probably sit down with the sciences division and see what's a good fit for Homeland and what's better to go to DARPA."

"What about you two?" Steve asked. "Have you given any thought to what you'll do once this is all over?"

Maria sighed. "I'm not sure I can even process that this'll all be over. It's what I've—what we've been working towards for all our lives. Thinking about what happens after was sort of a luxury we couldn't afford."

"Well, you'll both have a place at Stark Industries once SHIELD is dissolved," Tony said. "If you want it, that is. Maybe we'll take global security private, start our own superhero club."

"Certainly the Avenger's Initiative shouldn't go to Homeland," Phil said. "We should probably be engaging with the United Nations on oversight of the team. I'm not comfortable with the WSC having that much control considering that they tried to nuke New York during the battle."

"That's not a bad idea," Maria said. "Given the nature of the threats we're likely to be facing, having the team under the control of one nation seems short-sighted. We want the rest of the world to trust that you'll be there whenever there's a global threat. Positioning the Initiative under the auspices of the UN would go a long way to reassure people of just that."

"Maybe you and Agent Coulson should stay with the Avengers as our liaisons," Steve said. "I'm not sure any of us would trust anyone else to work on our behalf, honestly. We know and trust you. Anyone else… it would take time to build that relationship, and in the meantime, if something happens that requires us to react, we'd be working with people we don't know whether we can trust or not."

"It was always Fury's intention to put you in charge of the Avenger's Initiative," Maria said to Phil. "You should think about it."

"I could use a good second," Phil said. He smiled at Maria. "Can't think of anyone else I'd want backing me up."

Maria nodded. She felt a little lighter, just for knowing what the path forward might be. That didn't change the fact that there was a lot of work left to do, but at least they knew now where they needed to start.

"I'll start working my contacts at Homeland," Maria said. "You know anybody at the UN we can talk to?"

"I might know a few people," Stark said. "I can at least get the ball rolling. Time, tide and world peace waits for no man, as the saying goes."

~o~

A week later, they assembled the rest of the Avengers to update them on the situation. Steve had argued for reading everyone in right away. He'd hated the idea of keeping the team in the dark, especially considering that their actions would directly impact each one of them. So, they'd read everyone in on the Hydra bit, but the plans for a post-SHIELD world had been held closer to the vest until they had a better idea of what they were going to do.

"What's going on, Tony?" Banner asked as the last of the team arrived in the command center.

Stark looked at Maria and waved his hand. "Show 'em what you got, kiddo."

Maria frowned at the nickname, but let it go without further comment. She figured that would either annoy him or encourage him. She wasn't sure which outcome was better.

"We've had several meetings with select members of the UN Security Council," she said. "Negotiations are ongoing, but we believe we'll have an agreement in place by the end of the week to transfer the Avenger's Initiative to UN control. They're preparing to issue sanctions on SHIELD, which will give us public cover for dismantling the agency."

"They were just as outraged as we were that the WSC ordered Fury to fire nukes at New York City during the battle," Stark said. "I think several people in that room actually popped wood when we offered them the chance to smack down the WSC."

"Some of those people were women, Stark," Maria grumbled.

"Yeah, it was kind of epic," Stark said with a grin.

"We've also met with DARPA and Homeland to discuss handing over tech and assets," Phil said. "And JARVIS is assembling a list of suspected Hydra agents within SHIELD. Once it's complete, we'll quietly circulate it among the Alphabet agencies. That should prevent most of them from finding government jobs."

"I mentioned the list to a contact of mine at the FBI," Maria said. "He was practically salivating. I think a lot of those people are going to be investigated for domestic terrorism once SHIELD is dissolved."

"And what about the people who aren't Hydra?" Sam asked.

"They shouldn't have any problem finding a job at another agency," Phil said. "We're not going to hold their hands and find them another job, but the good ones will get snapped up fairly quickly once word spreads that they're available."

"What's the plan for dealing with Pierce?" Natasha asked. "I'm assuming you have one."

"We're still working that out," Maria said.

"I say we just go in there and confront him," Stark said.

"You do not want to back Ares into a corner," Clint said. "He can turn on a dime and give you nine cents change."

"How exactly do we stop him?" Sam asked. "Because he's a god, in case no one's noticed that."

"And if we strip away the Cloak, we can send him back to Olympus," Maria said.

"Yeah, see, it's the 'strip away the Cloak' part that none of us is clear on," Stark said. "How, exactly, does one do that?"

"Kill shot," Clint said quietly. "You end him. Because he's a god, he'll... well, rise again. As the god he is. Once he does, we can force him to return to Olympus."

"But it'll take all of us to do it," Natasha said. "Alone, none of us is powerful enough, but together we should be able to."

"Can you do it without Fury?" Phil asked. 

Maria looked at Clint and Natasha; both of them shrugged. "We think so, but we simply don't know for sure. And we probably won't know until we try."

"So, this whole plan hinges on whether or not the three of you are strong enough to force him off this plane of existence," Banner said.

"You, Phil and Steve should also be able to lend us some of your power to help," Maria said. "So it won't be just the three of us."

"It still sounds risky, but I'm not sure we have a better alternative," Steve said. "You're sure you'll be able to do it in human form?"

Maria looked at Clint and Natasha, who both had their heads down. When she looked at Steve, she could see the second it dawned on him what it would take for them to complete this mission.

"No," he said quietly. "No. There has to be another way. You can't sacrifice yourselves for this, especially if you're not sure it'll work."

"I'm not sure we have any other choice," Maria said. "And it may not come down to that anyway, if we can't get a clean shot on him."

"Oh, I'll get the shot," Clint said. "I'm the best sniper SHIELD has. There's no way I miss."

"Are we sure this is the only way?" Steve asked.

"If you've got a better idea, I'm all ears," Maria said. 

Silence descended on the room as they all digested the plan. Maria and Phil had been around and around in circles over this, but neither of them had seen a better alternative. It broke her heart, because she'd come to like her life on Earth, and didn't want to give it up. But stopping Ares came before any other consideration, including the life she was living.

"At the risk of butting in where I don't belong, I'd like to help."

They all turned as one to find Barnes standing in the doorway of the command center, dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt, feet bare and hair pulled back from his face. He still looked tired, but less haunted than he had even a few days ago when she'd stopped by to check on him.

"Bucky," Steve said. "I'm not sure this is a good time."

"You're talking about taking down Ares," Barnes said. He took a few more steps into the room, waving his one good arm to encompass all of them. "I may still be a little rough around the edges, but I can fight. And you need all the help you can get."

"Are you sure about this, Sergeant Barnes?" Phil asked. 

"Like we can afford to look a gift horse in the mouth," Stark said. 

"Ares may not have been responsible for turning me into what I was, but I still share the blood of the Titans with you," Barnes said. "Which makes this just as much my responsibility as yours."

Maria knew the others had been surprised to find that the Giants were distant relations of the Titans that spawned the current Olympians. That didn't mean Barnes had any obligation to help, but she understood that he probably needed something to do; some way to feel useful.

"If Dr. McIntyre clears him, I don't see why he couldn't participate," Maria said.

The others seemed surprised by this, but Phil just looked contemplative.

"Maria's right," he said. "We're not in a position to turn away help when it's offered."

Barnes' shoulders slumped with something that looked like relief. He crossed the room to stand next to Steve as the discussion continued.

"You gonna let Sitwell help out too?" Clint asked. He still seemed upset that someone he'd been close to had been involved with Hydra.

"I think it's best if Sitwell stays behind," Phil said. "Pierce could have leverage over him that we know nothing about. I don't like the risk involved in bringing him in, so I think it's best if he not be involved."

Neither Clint nor Natasha said anything, but they both seemed relieved.

"You've been quiet, Pep," Stark said, turning to his girlfriend, who'd been sitting silently as they'd discussed the plan. "Care to weigh in with some words of wisdom?"

"It still doesn't work that way, Tony," Pepper said. But even as she shook her head, she closed her eyes and appeared to center herself. When she opened them moments later, they glowed gold. "Neither might nor strength will win the day, but the cunning of one so close, when it is needed most."

"Well, that was clear as mud," Sam muttered.

"Alright," Phil said. "Let's reconvene tomorrow and go over a plan of attack. There will be little margin for error, and Pierce will have the advantage in manpower even if we have the element of surprise."

"Not like we've ever been in a fair fight," Stark said. "Why should this be any different?"

~o~


	8. Chapter 8

~o~

The day of the confrontation dawned bright and cool. Steve was as nervous as he'd ever been before a battle during the war. He and Maria had spent the night together, curled up on top of the covers just talking and dozing. It was intimate, for all that there was no sex involved. 

Steve was keenly aware that Maria—and the rest of the Olympians—intended to sacrifice their human existence to return Ares to Olympus. They wouldn't die in the attempt, but they wouldn't be able to remain on Earth. Olympus would take back her own—all of them—so that they could deal with Ares and recover from the battle. No one knew if Zeus would allow them to return to Earth, so this might be the last time any of them would be together.

It was sobering for Steve. He'd only just found Maria and the Avengers; a home and a place to belong. And while it was only the Olympians that would be leaving, they would still leave a void.

"We will see each other again," Maria said quietly as they got ready to join the rest of the team. She lay a hand on his cheek, turning him to face her. "I will not let this be the end of us."

"We can't predict the future, Maria," Steve said gently. He was wary of making promises; there was too much pain in this moment for him to even think about that. And the memory of a watery kiss with Peggy was still too fresh in his mind, even a year after he'd woken up in the future.

"I'm not predicting anything," she said to him. Her lips turned up in a soft smile. "I intend to return for you one day, and I defy Zeus to stop me. You are mine, as much as you belong to Olympus, and to the people of the Earth. They may have you for a time, but I will return for what's mine. I swear it."

Steve's heart nearly stopped for the joy that surged through it. "You will, huh? I'll look forward to that, then."

"It pains me to interrupt," JARVIS said, "but Sir has requested your presence on the Avengers floor."

"You ready?" Steve asked.

Maria smiled, but now it had a shark-like quality to it. "As I'll ever be."

They headed for the elevator, allowing JARVIS to take them to the Avengers floor. When they stepped out, it was to find the rest of the team waiting for them in the command center.

Coulson nodded at them as they took their place with the rest of the Avengers. Steve noticed Bucky, standing next to Sam, his shiny new StarkTech arm flexing at his side. He'd been grateful to his new friend for stepping up to help with Bucky. He nodded, smiling at Bucky, who winked at him from across the room.

"Alright, we all know the plan by this point," Coulson said. "You all know your assignments. I trust you to do whatever is necessary to send Ares back to Olympus. We'll deal with the eventual fallout within SHIELD after the battle."

"No matter what happens today," Maria said, looking at each one of them, "it has been an honor working with all of you. There is no place I'd rather be than standing beside you as we walk into battle together."

There were murmurs of agreement running through the room.

"If there are no more questions, let's get ready to go," Coulson said. "Wheels up in fifteen."

It felt just like the old days with the Howling Commandos as they all headed for the locker room that Tony had set up for the team. When they stepped inside, they could see new uniforms at each locker. Steve headed straight for his, in awe of the Captain America uniform he saw waiting for him. It was just like the one he'd worn in World War II; blue, with red stripes and stars. It made his heart hurt at the same time he was so proud to wear it once again.

He turned around, looking for Tony in the crowd. He'd already donned the armor, but his faceplate was up. Steve nodded at Tony, who sketched a two-fingered salute.

They were a quiet group as they headed to the roof and the QuinJet waiting for them. Steve would have felt better if Coulson and Maria had planned to stay in New York and work the battle from the command center, but he recognized that they'd need every one of them on the ground if they were going to succeed. Even Banner was with them, prepared to Hulk out at a moment's notice.

Clint and Natasha headed straight for the cockpit and fired up the jet as the rest settled in. Now, it was just a matter of time before they confronted Ares.

~o~

The QuinJet set down on the landing pad next to the Triskelion. The team disembarked, and Maria paused to look up at the building. Somewhere on the highest floor, Ares stood watching them, lording over all his kingdom. 

She hadn't seen the place in weeks, preferring to run SHIELD operations out of the New York office. A frisson of unease raced down her spine. She was about to essentially tear down the organization she'd dedicated her human life to, and hopefully send the monster at the head of this particular beast back where he came from. It wouldn't be easy, but she was committed to seeing it through, no matter the cost.

They moved to the front of the building, having decided that the direct approach would be best. The Avengers had absolutely no chance of taking anyone at SHIELD by surprise, but they'd fought through aliens in defense of New York; this should be easy by comparison.

Waiting for them in the main rotunda was a team of SHIELD agents, Brock Rumlow at the front of them. She wasn't surprised; Rumlow had been on the list of Hydra agents within SHIELD, but she'd worked with the man for years, had trusted him to have her back. It left a sour taste in her mouth.

As per their plan, she and Phil stepped to the front, Clint and Natasha flanking them. Stark, Banner, Barnes, Wilson and Steve stood behind them; they'd agreed that the Hulk didn't need to come out until it was absolutely necessary, but Maria didn't have any illusions that it wouldn't be necessary.

"Agent Coulson, Agent Hill," Rumlow said. "Can I ask what business you have here today?"

"Last I checked, we're still both agents of SHIELD," Phil said. "So, unless you intend to arrest us, you're going to need to let us pass."

"I could do that," Rumlow said. "But the rest will have to stay here. Orders, you know."

"Bullshit," Clint said. "Agent Romanov and I are going with. You're just going to have to deal with it."

Stark flipped up his faceplate so his words could be heard clearly. "And I've funded most of the tech in this building, so I have a lifetime pass. But you go right ahead and try to keep us out. You'll break Captain America's little red, white and blue heart if you don't let him in, and I don't think you want to do that."

"Look, Rumlow, this can go one of two ways," Natasha said. "You can either let us pass and keep your nose intact, or you can put up a fight and I'll break it, along with the rest of the bones in your face. Your choice, but I'd think hard about what you plan to do. I'm not in the mood to go easy on you today."

Rumlow's head tilted, as if he were listening to someone on his radio. He frowned, but nodded.

"Alright, let's go," he said. He didn't look happy as he said it, but Maria couldn't care less. "Don't try anything. We're under orders to subdue you if necessary."

"Our fight isn't with you, son," Steve said.

"If your fight is with any of us, it's with all of us, Captain," Rumlow said ominously. "Bear that in mind."

Stark snorted but didn't say anything.

They split up, half of them going in one elevator with Rumlow and a few of his men, and the other half in the other elevator with the rest of Rumlow's team. Amusingly, Steve had placed himself at Maria's shoulder and refused to budge. Stark had just grinned at them when they were separating for the elevator ride.

The elevators shot up; Maria's stomach lodged in her throat. They were enclosed in a small elevator with men she no longer trusted. It would be very easy for them to attack any one of them, because there was very little room to maneuver. They'd have a hard time fighting back for the risk of hitting one of their own.

Fortunately, they reached the top floor without incident. Maria didn't fool herself into thinking that they'd passed the hard part. Getting into the Triskelion was the easy part. Getting to Ares and forcing his return to Olympus was by far the hardest part.

The elevator doors opened on Pierce's top floor offices. Maria spared a glance back at Steve as they stepped off the car; she wondered how he felt about being there, since the last time he'd been there Pierce had essentially threatened him in an attempt to gain his cooperation.

Rumlow took the lead, and the Avengers fell into step behind him, with the rest of his men bringing up the rear. They headed for the command center on the north side of the building. Pierce was standing near the windows, no jacket, shirt sleeves rolled up and his hands tucked into his pockets. He looked like a harmless businessman, but more than anyone Maria understood how looks could be deceiving.

"You know, I wasn't surprised when Zeus allowed you all to come here," Pierce said without turning around. "He's always been a bit of a screaming Mimi when it comes to those who defy his precious will. He's lost interest in the humans over the millennia, which is a pity, really. They're so passionate, so full of life. So violent, which is quite a sight to behold. They could give the worst of us a run for their money."

"You'd know," Clint said.

Pierce turned around, his gaze sweeping the entire group. His eyes landed on Barnes, and he frowned. "Well, that's disappointing, but not surprising," he said, shaking his head. "I'd expected our dear Captain America to want to rescue his best friend, but I was hoping I'd have the Winter Soldier a little longer. He's such a fun toy to play with."

"I'm nobody's toy, Ares," Barnes said. "If you'd paid any attention at all, you'd have known it's dangerous to subvert the will of a Giant. If you're lucky, I might only rip your arms off."

"Well, isn't that interesting," Pierce said, his eyes widening ever so briefly as he digested that particular fact. "Orion, in the flesh. Zeus will have much to answer for."

"Shouldn't you have known who he was?" Steve asked. "At least known he was wearing the Cloak? Seems to me you either ignored it for your own purposes, or didn't have the insight required to discover that fact on you own. I'm not sure which I'm hoping it was, truth be told."

"Either way, it's immaterial now," Pierce said, shrugging. "He'll always carry the scars of what's been done to him. And I'm not responsible, you know. When I found him, he was already broken. I just... took advantage."

"You know, I didn't believe you when you said he was batshit," Stark said to Clint conversationally. "I'm beginning to regret that. I'm also getting tired of the blah blah blah super villain speech. Maybe we could just skip ahead to the part where he tries to kill us?"

"I'm all for that," Wilson said. "I didn't get all dolled up just to stand here looking pretty."

Clint had to smother his laughter or risk firing the arrow he had nocked and ready. "You do look great in that rig. StarkTech, right?"

"Of course," Stark said. "Only the best for the superhero band, after all. It's too bad Ares doesn't have his own group. We could do some karaoke, maybe have a dance off."

"Well, this has been amusing, but I'm afraid I'm going to have to insist you all leave now," Pierce said. "You obviously have no chance of subduing me so you can return me to Olympus to face Zeus' justice, so perhaps you should just go back to whatever secret hideout you came from and move on to the next problem that needs solving."

"Oh, we haven't even gotten started yet," Stark said.

"And yet, your time's up," Pierce said.

He must have given some silent signal to Rumlow and his team, because they attacked all at once. Maria spun and kicked out at the nearest goon, sending him to the floor with a satisfying crunch. She turned to take on the next attacker, only to see Steve hitting him in the gut with his shield before quickly punching upward with it, hitting his goon under the chin and knocking him out cold.

She had zero time to be impressed because yet another SHIELD agent came at her. He swung sloppily at her, so she easily countered with a right cross and another kick to the middle. This time she added a bit more power behind the kick, and sent the guy skittering across the room to hit the wall with a satisfying crunch.

Maria spun in a circle, taking stock of the rest of the team. Clint and Natasha had paired off and were tag-teaming a couple of agents off to one side. Steve was a blur of motion in the middle of three men, all of whom seemed to be holding their own against him. She knew that wouldn't hold; eventually, he'd tire of playing with them and just knock them out cold.

Barnes and Wilson seemed to have found a rhythm, bouncing a couple of burly agents between them, doing as much damage as they could. Stark, amazingly, had kept the gauntlets sheathed and was using his fists and legs to inflict maximum damage while avoiding damaging the room at large. Banner seemed to have found his way to the control console along with Phil, working their way through the SHIELD systems with JARVIS' help, in an attempt to prevent Pierce from calling in major reinforcements.

It only took her seconds to scan the room, but on her second pass, she spotted the QuinJets headed for the building, a helicopter—no, more like two or three—incoming hot on their heels.

"Phil!" Maria shouted just as the elevator door opened to spill out more agents.

Phil and Banner looked up, both taking stock of the situation. In an instant, Banner had Hulked out and was leaping through the window, Iron Man and Falcon on his heels. Hulk took on the helicopters, while Iron Man and Falcon took the highly-maneuverable QuinJets. 

Maria knocked out two more agents, checking around the room as she did. She could see Pierce standing at one end of the room, a big grin on his face as he watched the fight unfold. It made her furious, that he was so blithely spending human capital for nothing more than his own enjoyment, but she really didn't have any more time to think about it as another wave of agents poured into the room.

"Phil!" she shouted. "Shut down the elevators to this floor. Pierce has to have a protocol for that somewhere."

"I've got it," Phil shouted back. 

She heard the locks engage on all the doors, elevators included, and breathed a small sigh of relief. At least there wouldn't be any more agents joining the fight. Which didn't mean there wouldn't be any waiting for them when they were finally able to stop Ares, but she wasn't going to worry about that just yet.

She saw Phil coming around the console, headed towards Clint and Natasha. He'd shed his jacket; he had a Kevlar vest on and his gun drawn, but he was skirting the room, picking his way through the unconscious agents on the floor.

"I've locked down the Triskelion," he said as he joined her. The others had the remaining agents well in hand, so they were out of danger for the moment. "And I've locked Pierce out of the system, so he shouldn't be able to call for reinforcements from offsite."

"Which doesn't help us with the ones still on campus," Maria said.

"Homeland and the FBI are inbound in force," Phil said, turning towards where Clint and Natasha were. "Once they arrive, JARVIS will release the building and allow them to come in and start arresting people. They can sort out friend from foe later."

The battle, such as it was, seemed to be winding down. Steve and Barnes had a pile of bodies surrounding them, and Clint and Natasha had quite a few agents trussed up and propped up against the wall. Maria could still hear explosions outside, so apparently the Hulk, Falcon and Iron Man were still coping with some resistance, but it appeared that they'd finally cut through Ares' defenses.

The man—god—himself was still standing at the far side of the room, a big grin on his face. He took his hands out of his pockets and applauded. "Bravo. I'm impressed. Really, I am. It's a shame it was all for naught, though, because it was quite entertaining."

"What does he mean, 'it was all for naught'?" Steve asked.

Before Maria could even think about answering, she turned to see Pierce engulfed in white light. When it subsided, she saw him in his true form, no Cloak obscuring the power of Olympus radiating from him. 

"Kchyortu," Natasha said under her breath.

"He's already shed his Cloak," Clint said, surprised.

"Now what do we do?" Barnes asked. "Ripping the Cloak away was always going to be the easy part."

Ares laughed. "You've lived in your mortal bodies for far too long. They've made you weak. Ineffective. You think like the humans you pretend to be. I'm really going to enjoy destroying you all. And when I'm done, I'll take this miserable planet and bend it to my will."

Maria knew what they had to do. She turned to look at Clint and Natasha, giving them a small nod. She closed her eyes and pushed the power of Olympus out of her core, where it was always resting just under the surface of the Cloak. She felt the moment when the Cloak gave way. It was like breaking the surface of the ocean after being held down by a massive wave. She could breathe easy for the first time in what seemed like forever.

She opened her eyes to see Clint and Natasha doing the same. The light in the room was almost blinding for the humans, but it glowed like candle light to her eyes. When she looked at Steve, he was staring at her in awe. She inclined her head to him, acknowledging him before she turned back to Ares.

"By order of Zeus, King of the Gods and ruler of Olympus, I order you to return to Olympus," Athena said. "If you do not return willingly, we will force your return. This is not up for debate. Zeus has commanded it; we obey."

"Well, that's too bad, because I'm not returning," Ares said, voice gone hard. "He can order all he wants. I like it here, so I'm staying."

"No, you're not."

All eyes turned to the broken window. Hades was floating just outside the room, a dark, ethereal glow lighting him from within. The affectations of Nick Fury—the eyepatch and trench coat—were long gone. He radiated power and danger, but Ares seemed unaffected by it.

"You would betray your sister?" Ares asked. "I'm disappointed in you, Hades. There was a time, not that long ago, that your loyalty to me was a given."

Hades floated into the room, landing lightly on his feet just inside the windows. "I've been on this plane of existence for a long time. In all that time, I've watched the humans. They're tenacious, pernicious, full of fire and fury."

Hermes snorted at the pun; Hades side-eyed him, but otherwise didn't react.

"They are also entitled to guide their own destiny," Hades continued. "They neither need nor want our help. Zeus understood this; that they have grown beyond the need for us. Now, we walk among them to learn from them; learn what makes them such bright stars in the celestial plains, so that we may one day return to that ourselves."

"They're children," Ares said. "They can no more chart their own destiny than a houseplant can. Zeus turned away from them and look at what they've done. They've nearly destroyed themselves a dozen times over. They need a steady hand to guide them on the correct path, or else they'll be lost for eternity. Destroyed by their own hand over petty disputes and foolish conquests."

"And if that should happen, so be it," Hades said. "We have seen many civilizations come and go for similar reasons. The humans will be no different. Our time is finished, Ares. It's time to go home."

"Oh, hell no," Ares said.

He threw his hands out, waves of power radiating out from them, knocking everyone in the room over. Athena scrambled to her feet and pushed her own power out towards Ares. Hermes, Artemis and Hades did the same. But even together, they were having trouble containing Ares. 

Steve was the first to figure it out. He moved closer to Athena, reaching out to lay his hands on her shoulders. She felt it instantly, the infusion of power as she pressed towards Ares. She watched as Phil and Barnes did the same, moving closer to Hermes and Artemis, lending their power to help contain Ares.

They were winning the battle, but Athena could also feel herself begin to tire. If they couldn't contain him before they burned themselves out, Ares would get away and find someplace else to wreak havoc.

Just when she thought maybe she'd collapse from the strain, the windows and roof on the top floor blew out, the sound of shattered glass like rain on a tin roof. Athena opened her eyes to find the entire roof of the building just gone. Above them, glittering among the clouds and descending toward them like twin suns, was a sight she never thought to see in her lifetime.

Zeus and Hera, holding hands, landing on light feet in the middle of Pierce's command center on the top floor of the Triskelion.

She let go of her power, collapsing back into Steve's strong arms, barely aware of what was happening around her. She felt cool hands on her cheek, and opened her eyes to find her father gazing down at her, softness in his eyes.

"All will be well, daughter," he said, voice like the wind through the tall grasses on the plains outside of Athens.

Her strength seemed to return to her, though she still felt a bit wobbly. Steve helped her to her feet, supporting her just enough to allow her to keep her dignity. She watched Zeus do the same to the others, speaking soft words and lending some small bit of power to each in turn.

When he was finished, he turned to Ares, who appeared to be trussed up himself, Zeus' lightening crackling in a band around his body, holding his arms at his sides so he couldn't move.

"Ares," Zeus said, his voice as harsh now as it had been soft before. "I am disappointed in you. You have been told time and again that the humans are off limits to you, and yet you persist in interfering in their lives."

"They can't survive without someone to guide them!" Ares shouted. "And you have ignored them! They turned to me because they had no one else to show them the way."

Zeus simply shook his head. "I have not heeded their call because they are no longer children to be led around. They are beings of beauty and power that have a right to choose their own path. If that path leads to self-destruction, so be it. Societies rise and fall, and have for millennia. We must be concerned with our own affairs, as someone recently reminded me."

"But—"

"Enough!" Zeus shouted. "You will return to Olympus and answer for your crimes. I will not hear further arguments on the matter."

"Finally," Hermes muttered. Artemis elbowed him, but Hermes just frowned at her. "What?"

"What about the others?" Steve asked. "What will happen to them, now that Ares has been dealt with?"

Zeus looked at Steve, and Athena held her breath. It was the height of impertinence to question the King of the Gods. Lesser men than Steve had been punished or worse for the attempt.

Instead of lashing out, Zeus turned to his fellow Olympians. "What would you have me do, my brother? My children? What is your wish?"

Athena was honestly shocked, but it was Hermes who recovered first. "I don't know about the others, but I want to stay. I have a life here that I'm happy with. When the time comes—when my human lifespan is over—I will happily return to Olympus, as long as Phil is allowed to come with."

"I would stay as well," Artemis said. "The humans are a joy I have rarely known in my life. I wish to spend more time observing them."

"And I as well," Athena said. "I have... enjoyed my time on Earth, and do not wish to see it end so soon. If you will permit it, Father."

Zeus looked at each one, then turned to his brother. "Hades, what say you? Will you stay, or will you return to your domain? Persephone has missed your company, but has expressed a willingness to join you on Earth, should you wish it."

Hades seemed to contemplate it for long minutes. Athena knew from her last conversation with him that he was tired of the games and in need of rest. But perhaps it was more driven by the conflict with Ares and less about the humans and the work they did on their behalf. 

"I am loath to be away from my bride for much longer," he said. "So if she is willing, I would happily welcome her to Earth for a time. I believe she would enjoy the experience."

"Very well," Zeus said, though he was smiling as if he'd known all along that they'd all want to stay.

Without warning, Zeus unleashed his lightning, bolts of light crackling through the room, striking each of the Olympians in the center of their chests. Athena felt it the moment the Cloak wrapped around her and she was Maria Hill again. Her knees went weak, and she nearly collapsed again, but Steve was still there, still holding her up. She smiled gratefully at him as she regained her feet.

"Take care with these fragile bodies you value so," Zeus said. "For I will not continue to remake them should you damage or shed them again."

"We'll take care, Father," Clint said.

Natasha nodded. "And thank you."

"We'll have some interesting stories to tell when we return to Olympus," Fury said, a rare smile breaking over his face.

"I look forward to hearing them," Zeus said. He turned to Hera, who had remained silent during the entire exchange. "Wife. Shall we go?"

Hera inclined her head, then turned to the rest of the group. "I thank you for what you tried to do. My son has done you terrible wrongs, and still you attempted to return him to Olympus rather than destroy him. I am indebted to you all. Please call on me should you have a need. I will answer as best I'm able."

She joined Zeus beside Ares, the two of them taking their son's arms and rising into the clouds. They disappeared from view, leaving the roof blown off and the Avengers and Fury staring at each other.

Clint was the first to break. He started chuckling, and before long he was bent over double, laughing so hard Maria was sure he was going to make himself sick. One by one, the others joined him until they were all laughing like loons. It felt good to let it all go. They hadn't been able to do that in far too long.

Iron Man and Falcon landed inside the room, Tony holding on to an exhausted Bruce Banner. "Well, that was certainly far more exciting than it had a right to be."

"Says you," Barnes said, still fighting a chuckle or two. "I thought for sure Ares was gonna get loose and end us all."

"Good thing he didn't," Banner said. "I didn't like our odds if you guys couldn't contain him."

"And then Zeus rides to the rescue," Wilson said. "I thought he was a Grade A asshole, and then he goes and does something like this."

"Father can be reasonable," Natasha said. "From time to time."

"Except no one's witnessed him being reasonable in over a thousand years," Clint said.

"It would appear the immediate crisis is over, but we still have a lot of mop-up left to do," Phil said. "JARVIS says Homeland and the FBI are engaging the Hydra sleeper agents as we speak."

"We should probably go help," Clint said. "Job's not done until all the enemy agents have been neutralized. You taught me that."

"I'm game," Wilson said. "Somebody's gotta make sure Captain Iron Pants over here doesn't get too carried away with those gauntlets of his."

"Hey!" Stark said, flipping up the visor on his suit. It looked slightly battered, but still functional, so Maria wasn't worried. "I resemble that remark."

Clint snorted. "Come on. Let's go help clean house. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can retire to a whole vat of beer and a shower."

"Not necessarily in that order," Wilson said.

Maria just smiled at Steve, who smiled back at her. "You ready?"

"I'm ready," Steve said. He squeezed her shoulder before letting go. "The sooner we finish, the sooner we can get out of here and start celebrating."

"That an offer?" Maria asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Do you want it to be?" Steve asked. "Because I can definitely make it an offer for a private celebration."

"And on that note, let's get out of here," Fury said. "I do not need to see or hear about Captain America's love life."

The rest of them burst into more peals of laughter as JARVIS restored the elevators and they headed downstairs to help finish what they'd started.

~o~


	9. Chapter 9

~o~

It had been a week since the battle with Ares at the Triskelion. Everyone had been busy, either helping to dismantle SHIELD or helping to set up the Avenger's Initiative under the UN. Steve and Maria had been like ships in the night after that first night. It had been frustrating to her, mostly because she couldn't really enjoy the second chance she'd earned due to all the work they had to do.

Stark had simply put his foot down one afternoon and declared a Sunday. On a Tuesday, but whatever, they needed the day off.

And so, instead of heading out to one of the City's hottest new restaurants, they'd gathered around the dining room table in Tony's suite of the Tower for a catered meal from the finest steak house New York City had to offer, plenty of wine and mind-blowing desserts, because never let it be said that Stark didn't understand the women in his life.

Clint and Natasha had officially resigned from SHIELD, even before the organization was officially mothballed. They'd joined the Avenger's Initiative fulltime, with a side-gig at Stark Industries, conducting world security analysis. Stark had said at one point that he'd be taking global security private; Maria just hadn't believed him.

Sam Wilson had actually quit his job with the VA and gone to work full time for Stark Industries; he'd simply moved into the Tower and never left. Stark had plans for hiring vets and a variety of other skilled workers, to fill out the science and engineering departments as well as Stark Global Security, as he'd begun to call it. He'd wanted someone on staff who could both relate to them and help them navigate the world outside the military, and Sam was more than willing to be that guy.

The Army had made noises about recruiting Steve, either to serve again fulltime or to consult with them on issues of national security. Steve made it clear that, though he was grateful for the opportunity, he'd completed his service with honor and would prefer to retire from active duty. Officially, he was a part of the Avenger's Initiative. Unofficially, he'd joined Clint and Natasha at Stark Industries. 

Barnes, too, had taken Stark up on his offer. Though he wasn't ready to work fulltime, re-integrating into modern society was effectively a full time job, so he wasn't bored. Steve, Clint and especially Natasha had taken on the task with gusto, and the four had become thick as thieves.

Maria and Phil had—as Steve had suggested—stayed with the Avengers Initiative and were working on setting it up under the auspices of the UN. Instead of one team of superheroes, they'd conceived of a group of several rapid-response teams that could be ready to go at a moment's notice, each made up of enhanced and non-enhanced individuals. After the Battle of Manhattan, people with physical and other enhancements had started coming out of hiding, so there wasn't a shortage of candidates. They would be based all around the world for ease of access to any potential hotspots that might crop up.

It was a good plan, and one that Maria was very proud to be part of.

After dinner, they'd all moved to the lounge area on the Avengers' floor, where the party seemed to just keep right on going. More liquor, enough video games to satisfy all the type-A personalities in the room, and the comfort of good friends, everything Maria could have asked for on a peaceful night in New York City.

"You've been quiet," Steve murmured in her ear as they watched Clint, Bucky and Tony attempt to kick each others' asses at Mario Cart, of all things.

"Mmmm," she hummed. "Just enjoying this. There hasn't been time for nights like this in far too long."

"Now that things have settled down, maybe we should plan to do it more often," Steve said. "I'm all for hanging out with friends and forgetting the outside world exists."

"I wouldn't argue against it," Maria said with a smile. "All work and no play…"

"You've never been dull in your life," Steve said. He nuzzled into her neck and dropped a kiss on the skin he'd exposed. When he pulled back, he was grinning ear to ear.

"Fury used to ask—on a regular basis—if I ever even went home at night," Maria said. "There were a lot of nights I didn't. SHIELD was my life, for a very long time."

"And now it's different," Steve said. "Are you okay with all the changes?"

"I'm still getting used to some of it, but it's good," Maria said. "It's good to have a job and a purpose. And to get to do it with good friends. And you."

Steve blushed slightly; Maria thought it was adorable.

"Speaking of Fury, have you heard from him?" Steve asked.

Maria shook her head. "He's gone to ground again. He talked about taking Persephone on a trip around the world, showing off the best of what Earth has to offer. I'm sure he'll pop up again someday. He's not one to stay out of the game for long."

"It's strange thinking of him as a happily married man," Steve said, shaking his head. "He's always struck me as a loner."

"Fury was a loner by necessity," Maria said. "Hades is the life of every party he joins. To me, it's always been jarring to see him so isolated. Still, I'm glad he's taking this opportunity to enjoy life a little. For a man whose job it is to deal with death, both as a god and as a human, I think he's earned this."

"As have we all," Tony said from across the room.

Steve turned, one eyebrow raised as he looked at Tony. "Did you put listening devices in our glasses?"

"I have above-average hearing," Tony said, grinning. "Plus, you're talking about the Spymaster. I'm never not going to perk up when he's mentioned."

"Anyone else creeped out by the idea of Persephone wearing The Cavalry's face?" Clint asked as he guided his cart around the virtual track of the video game.

"May wouldn't have minded," Natasha said. "And you wouldn't be calling her that if she were still alive."

"It's still gonna take some getting used to," Clint said. His cart crashed, and Tony crowed in delight as he sped past. "Oh, fuck you, asshole."

"You're just pissed because I'm plain old human and have the reflexes of a demi-god," Tony said.

"No, he's pissed because he's finally found someone he can't beat," Sam said. "I flat refused to play against him after the fifth time in a row. Until we find a game he can't win, I'm on strike."

"No shooter games, unless you want to lose your pension," Natasha said.

"I get that," Sam said. 

Maria glanced around the room as the friendly banter continued. Phil was sitting near Clint, smiling softly at Clint's antics. Bucky was grinning from ear to ear, something he'd only started doing recently, most especially after he'd spent some time with Natasha. Pepper was smiling indulgently at Tony, and Sam had a foot propped up on the coffee table, enjoying the show. Even Bruce had joined them, though he'd refrained from drinking alcohol.

"I propose a toast," Phil said, standing up. "It's a brave new world we're living in, and I for one am pleased to be doing it beside all of you."

"To friends," Tony said, rising and raising his glass.

There were echoes of his words all around the group as they rose and clinked glasses. Steve pressed a kiss to Maria's head. "To being more than friends," he murmured quietly.

"To the future," Maria said, touching her glass to his.

Steve hummed in agreement. "To the future."

~Finis

**Author's Note:**

> For reference, here are the actors I've cast as Greek gods: [Zeus](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000146/mediaviewer/rm3283223808), [Hera](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0372176/mediaviewer/rm164993792), and [Asclepius](https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000257/mediaviewer/rm3565597184).


End file.
